Hell on Earth
by Vincent'sGirl06
Summary: Two girls fall in to a world where they are captured and held in a lab with a parrotsounding scientist...Who will help them? Why are they there? And who have Kaori sugar? o.O Rated for language,ect.
1. Falling down the rabbit hole

**Here's the first chapter. It's been a while since I've put anything on Flames are not accepted but helpful criticism is…If you don't like the story then don't read it.**

**Disclaimer: What are you talking about? You mean that I don't own all the Final Fantasy goodness! That's outrageous. Poo…Okay…I don't own Final Fantasy game or characters…**

All was quiet in the home of Jessica …except for the playroom down stairs. Sounds blared from the TV screen as Jessica's fingers flew across the Playstation's controls, she stared in concentration as her friend sat beside her; Amanda sat typing on Jessica's laptop, working on the stories that they had been working on earlier that week.

Jessica looked over at Amanda. "Want some soda?" She asked. She put her video game on pause.

"Are there any cold soda in the 'fridge?" Amanda asked.

Jessica shook her head. "No…but we can flash cool it." She replied.

Amanda suddenly smirked. "Have any tangerines?" She asked. Jessica sweatdropped.

"Amanda…don't start." Jessica said as she poked her friend in the side. They had once written a story names Tangerines…. it all started with the strange fruit. They walked out in to the garage; Jessica did some sort of acrobatic trick to get the sodas from their place in the garage. Amanda stood on the steps watching in curiosity as her friend stood with one foot on the bumper of her father's car and the other on a shelf next to the drink, she went to take a step only to sweatdrop.

"Jessica…." Amanda moaned. Her friend looked at her friend over her shoulder.

"What?" Jessica asked.

Amanda lifted one foot off of the steps. "My feet are sticking…" She whined. Jessica shook her head and went back to rummaging through the drinks.

"Get over it…." Jessica said as she found two sodas that they both would like. She sighed as she jumped on to the steps. "You're such a weenie…" she said as she passed Amanda on the way up to the kitchen.

Amanda blinked. "We both know that…" Amanda said as she followed her friend, they placed the sodas in the freezer for a couple of minutes so they could get cool.

Amanda was typing on the computer when suddenly the screen when blank, she blinked. "Jessica…. your computer did something weird."

Jessica leaned over to take a look, she narrowed her eyes. "You ran the battery down…" She said pointing over to the little light on the side of the laptop, it had a small picture of a battery and it was blinking… "Hang on-I'll go get the recharger," she said, taking the steps upstairs two at a time. She wandered into her room, picking her way across the mess (J/N: There really ish a huge mess in my room… sweatdrop) to grab the recharger from its plug.

Amanda, who had followed her, looked around and sweatdropped. "Jessica…you really need to clean your room…" she commented.

Jessica rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively. That's what they all said. "Bah…I know where everything is…" she said. She turned, pointing an index finger at Amanda, a gesture much like what a character would in a video game…possibly Demyx. "Let me just put it this way-your disorder is my order. Your chaos is my order," she said. She then broke the dramatic moment by simply shrugging. "To put it short-sometimes it helps a little to be ADD." Hopping over a pile of papers (one of many), she said, "Now let's go."

They headed down the stairs, plugging the recharger into the wall and laptop. They just sort of sat around/hung out for a while…when there was a crash of thunder outside. A wide grin spread across Jessica's face.

"…Alright!" she said, putting down her controller for a moment and balling her hands into fists, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Storm, storm, storm, storm…" she chanted. As she looked over to see Amanda staring at her, she blinked. "Whaaat?"

Amanda shook her head. "…You're insane…"

"…No…" Jessica corrected. "I'm loopy. There's a difference."

"How?"

Jessica shrugged. "You find it."

It had been about two hours now-more than enough time (or at least Jessica hoped) for the laptop to fully recharge. "Oh good…looks like its ready," she said.

Amanda blinked. "How do you know?"

Jessica shrugged as she reached over her to take the recharger out and grab it. "I'm guessing," she said. "Yuki will not fail meee-oof!" As she flailed a bit, she accidentally lost her balance, falling onto Amanda's lap. Amanda sweatdropped.

"…You really are loopy…" she said as Jessica continued to stretch her fingertips to grab the laptop.

"Al…most… Fingers…not…long enough…" Jessica ground out over-dramatically. Amanda sighed and shoved Jessica off her lap who fell to the ground with a thud; she glared at her friend who sat on the couch. " Nya….." Jessica stuck her tongue out at Amanda who returned the favor. There was a moment of silence when everything went black…literally.

"Damn…" Amanda sighed, "There must have been a power surge…the lights are out." She heard Jessica shuffle around her.

"No duh…" Jessica replied sarcastically.

Amanda stood up only to fall back to the ground with excruciating pain spider webbing across the top of her skull. "Owww…." Amanda moaned as she gripped her head, she heard the slight creaking sound as the low chandelier swayed back and forth (A/N: Seriously…it's only about shoulder high…I've cracked my head on it twice…). "Jessica…screw you and your damn chandelier." Amanda moaned as she felt the bump on her head, she was about to stand up when she thought of a better idea. She crawled on her hand and knees until she thought she was clear of the chandelier…but not far enough.

Jessica sweatdropped in the darkness when she heard another thud and yelp, "Are you alright?" Jessica asked, all she received was an angry groan. She shook her head and opened her laptop, the screen light very dimly lit the near by area. By no means was it enough to see well but to just get their bearings. Amanda glared at her. "What? It's not my fault…my parents are the ones that decided to make the dinning room in to the playroom…"

She winced as she heard a crash coming from downstairs. "Oh crap…the bunnies must be really freaking out down there. C'mon Amanda-we're checking on the bunnies." They grabbed some granola bars (J/N: The loss of the peanut butter bars was unbearable for Amanda! Well, okay, not really. P) and headed down the basement stairs. "…Amanda…" Jessica said, still using her laptop as a flashlight. "…You're right behind me…so don't…fall…" she said, the threat clearly and entirely all over her face.

…And of course, the gods of fate hate her, so…Amanda slipped. And fell.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Amanda shouted, sounding very much like the woman in the Naruto Squeal video on youtube that we love so much.

"Amanda-AMANDA! I'M HOLDING THE LAPTOP!" Jessica shouted. No doubt that would wake up her parents, but…hell, she worked hard for her laptop! She was /not/ about to let it get busted now. And yet…

CRASH! BANG! BOOM! MOO…moo…?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" (J/N: Long enough? XD)

"Jessica! LET GO!" Amanda shouted as she felt Jessica's arms clamp around her neck, the laptop burying itself in to her shoulder as they fell in to darkness. "LET GO OF MY NECK!"

Amanda felt like she was drifting in water, it was a very detached feeling. She didn't open her eyes at once but once she did…she wished that she never did. She saw Jessica floating a few feet away in a test tube filled with green liquid, her hair floating around her head. Amanda guessed she was in a similar situation, her eyes suddenly widened and her hands went to her throat; if she was immersed in a vat of liquid than why wasn't she drowning?

A noise started drifting through the test tube and the liquids within, Amanda turned her head to see where they were. They were in a lab obviously just looking at all the scientific equipment; she saw a man sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. Just by looking at him she could already detest him; his narrow face widened in to a smirk. He stood up, his white coat swayed as he walked over to where Amanda hung suspended in the rest tube. " _Well well…"_ He laughed; his voice was slightly disoriented by the liquid. "_Didn't think that you would regain consciousness so soon."_

Amanda's face suddenly went blank as she raised her right fist and flicked the scientist off.

"_Hey…don't knock it until you try it_…" the man said.

Amanda went a little bug-eyed, sweatdropping, and then simply resorted to shaking her fist VERY FEROCIOUSLY at the man. …Did it do any good? No…in fact, it just made him laugh…like they later found out he often did. Too much, in fact.

…ANYWHO…

Meanwhile, Jessica woke up. Her first thought, oddly yet understandably enough was: '…When did I fall asleep in the pool…? …When do I EVEN go into the pool…?' But eventually when she managed to get all her floating hair out of the way, she looked out of the test tube and looked around. About to take into account her surroundings, she decided to suddenly gag instead. 'The water….salty…icky…DISGUSTING! …It reminds me of the tap water at my aunt's house in Charleston… And…HOW AM I BREATHING IN ALL OF THIS! OH GOD!'

But after a moment, she thought, 'Well…I /am/ breathing, right? So wait! Freakish lab, human imprisonment, icky salty breathable water stuffs! Either we're in jail or…' Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to scream. "AAAALIEEEENS!" …And that's when she gagged again…and noticed that her voice didn't seem to be having that much effect.

Amanda noticed her awakening and seemed to realize what Jessica was trying to say by reading lips…or knowing that 'aliens', 'government', and 'conspiracy' would be some of the first things that would pop into her alien-obsessed government conspiracy nut friend. She gave the X-Files addict a look that said, 'Alright, calm down wannabe-Agent-Mulder. The lab belongs to a /human/…not a /alien/…'

Jessica looked over at her. And stared. And there was a long pause before she opened up her mouth again. "CONSPIRACCCCCY!-Bleeeh…"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "……"

Jessica seemed to stick out her lip in a pout for a moment as she crossed her arms, then suddenly frowned and raised an eyebrow as her toes touched something and sort of…rolled it around a little bit. She looked down to notice that her toes were rolling around some sort of nail…or screw…or whatever. "What the…" she muttered, getting used to talking in the nasty water, even if it was, well…nasty. She twitched, then tried reaching down as best she could. Finding that this wasn't as easy of a thing to accomplish as she had hoped, she finally decided 'the hell with it' and picked it up with her toes instead, bringing her toes up to her hand to take the nail. She held it up to eye-level, staring at it for a moment with eyes narrowed, and then held it out.

"WHAT IS THIS! I COULD GET TETNIS FROM THIS THING YOU EFFIN JERK!" Seeing the guy outside seem to blink and smirk slightly, shaking his head (at his own carelessness, her foolishness, or a little of both), she then added, "YEAH, YOU JUST COME IN HERE! I'LL KICK YOUR EFFIN SCRAWNY LITTLE ASS!" She began to tap on the glass for a moment, being just generally annoying if nothing else, before finding out that she could actually scratch out messages. She blinked; studying the nail for a moment, then began to scratch stuff in.

First thing: …Effin jerk…let us out…and go effin die…

The man blinked, and then shrugged, seeming to pretend that he couldn't read it.

Jessica glared, forgetting that her message was probably backwards, and then began tapping on the glass again just to be generally annoying.

The man twitched, then rolled his eyes at the immaturity of the teen, walking over and opening a little door thing on top.

The first thing that came to Jessica's mind was one of her favorite quotes from 'The Life of a Pumpkin'. An echo-y voice… 'Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom…' She reached up, seemingly in slow motion to reach up through the tiny little doorway thing that she could only stick an arm through (what /was/ she trying to do, anyway…?) but only managed to get her fingers with the nail through (J/N: Hah! Stab his hand!) Before the nail was suddenly snatched away.

"Ah, thank you for handing over the nail," said the man.

…The voice was enough to get on her nerves-just like nails screeching down a chalkboard would drive anyone insane. …Honestly, it sounded like a parrot! …And just to indicate this…she decided to do a little chicken dance…

The man stared at her for a moment like she was insane…and Amanda was admittedly giving her the same look. Jessica suddenly stopped, looked from one to the other, and then began to flail around. "WHAT!" she exclaimed. "HE SOUNDS LIKE A PARROT!" She then blinked and couldn't help but snicker a little as she turned back to the man. She made a little paddle to the surface of the water and wedged her hands and feet onto the insides of the glass, just for a second to let her mouth emerge and let her voice hopefully be carried over through the tiny door. "Hey…hey…" she said, hardly able to contain her laughter. "…Polly want a cracker?"

She then burst out laughing, but that seemed about enough to make her slip and fall back into the water. The sudden shock of going from breathable air to breathable water was enough to make her gag and start sort of…coughing…underwater…yeah…

Amanda watched her, then rolled her eyes. '…Idiot…' she thought, watching the somewhat-ticked-off man shut the little door and roll his eyes, shuffling out of the room. Jessica seemed to go alarmingly still-but from what Amanda eventually noticed, she was still breathing. …Oh good. She was just unconscious…

…Crap? Now what…?

She looked down at herself again, then back at Jessica, then had to do a double-take. What the…they were close to nakey…! …Well, okay, they were missing most of their PJs and stuck in mostly their underwear, a bra and panties, but…that would still mean that…

…Okay, now she had half the mind to yell at the pervert…if he came back in, of course…

But he didn't, and seeing as how she had nothing left to do, nothing left to insult, the fact that she was tired but probably wouldn't be getting out anytime soon. Something caught her eye; there was a small message that had been carved in to the glass about eye level. _Let's get out of here… _Amanda smirked, 'Yea…let's get out of here…' she thought as she drifted to sleep.

They didn't know how long they were in there…stupid scientists didn't have the common sense to put a clock in the lab. All that they knew…it was a very, very long time…..

YEARS…okay, only one year later… ;; After the whole Jenova…war…thing!

"Yukiro, you know that we're supposed to be in school…" called out a voice from down below as a boy around the age of seventeen or eighteen headed up to the second story inside balcony. He was around the average height of 5'6 and pale with an athletic frame. His hair was long and white (albino, maybe?) pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck. His eyes were a crystal blue color. He wore a white t-shirt and black jeans, though a small bulge could be seen in one of his pockets-fire materia.

A boy that looked identical to him, only with long black hair worn down and violet eyes, and a thin frame instead of an athletic one, carefully made his way up the rickety, cobwebbed staircase, following the sound of his younger twin brother's footsteps. Instead of a white t-shirt, he wore a black turtleneck and black jeans, and he had no materia-didn't need any, at least not for his element. He carried a wooden staff, though not so much as for fighting as for using to help with his…his disability.

"Bah…school, schmool," Yukiro called back down. "I get a day off from work, like hell I'm going to spend it going to school! …Besides…I accepted this as dare. No way am I going to chicken out! And I've always been curious about this place, so it all kinda pans out…or…something…" He shrugged. "Either way, we're here, we're looking around, let's just explore the place already!"

The older twin sighed, following the younger brother's creaking footsteps with the aid of sensitive hearing. "If you fall through the floor, I'm not saving you…" he warned.

"Don't need it! And besides-I know you would…" Yukiro called back with a grin and a small wave-seen or unseen.

Connor rolled his eyes. "I know…because I'm just too nice…" he grumbled. They passed into a bedroom, Yukiro looking around through the bookcase.

"Hm…what would make good proof that we actually went in…?" Yukiro wondered, reading over the titles.

Connor sweatdropped. "Now you're /stealing/ from the mansion..!"

Yukiro rolled his eyes. "C'mon, it's not like anyone lives here. Everything is just gathering dust-nobody will care if we took something from here or not…" he said. "Ah! How about this one?" He pulled on a book that said 'Secrets of the Cetra.'

…And opened up a secret doorway…

Connor frowned. "Yukiro…?" he asked. "What just happened…?"

"Um…the bookcase moved…and now there's a little secret entrance…" Yukiro explained. He stepped out, onto the rickety sort of staircase that wound down. No banister…oh boy.

"Erm, Connor…maybe you should stay up here…" Yukiro suggested.

Connor frowned. "…Why…?"

"This winds down pretty far…and there's no banister to make sure that you don't fall," Yukiro pointed out.

"…I'm going…" Connor said.

Yukiro paused, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "…Come along, then…" he said, heading down the winding staircase. "But be careful!"

He didn't need to tell Connor twice. Even though Yukiro seemed to be keeping a close eye on his older brother, Connor didn't seem to need too much help.

When they reached the bottom and wandered down a sort of cave-like hallway, Yukiro grinned. "This is so cool… I wonder if there's some sort of dead body stored down here or something. This place is supposed to be haunted, after all…"

Connor rolled his eyes. "I don't smell rotting flesh or anything…" he said. He then paused and frowned. "But I do hear…breathing? Wait…what?"

Yukiro blinked. "Seriously…?" He paused. "Are you sure you're not just hearing stuff?"

"Yeah…" Connor said. He then rolled his eyes. "And I'm always hearing things…"

"You know what I mean!"

The two wandered into a library/lab. Yukiro looked around, looking up at the test tubes. "Heeey…hey!" he exclaimed. He walked over to the test tube, knocking on it for a moment.

Connor blinked, making his way over. "Yukiro…? What's going on?"

"There are two girls in some sort of tubes…" Yukiro said. His cheeks turned pink. "And…um…they're not wearing a whole lot of clothes… What the…"

Connor frowned. "…We're still in the mansion, right?" This place was too much like where he once was…

Yukiro seemed to notice his distress, glancing over and frowning. "Hey, don't worry," he reassured in a quiet voice. "We're nowhere close to there. We're still in the ShinRa mansion…" He observed the test tube for a moment, looking around. "…Now to get them out…" He reached over, grabbing the handle to the red head's test tube.

Connor sweatdropped, snapping out of his memories. "Wait a second, Yukiro…make sure that the test tube is drained before-!"

SPLASH! WOOSH! POO-CHK!

"…Opening it…" Connor finished futilely.

Yukiro looked down at himself, soaked with some sort of nasty water, then trying to shake it off of him and wring it out of his clothes and hair the best he could. But then, before he could get very far, the girl fell out and onto him, too, causing him to blush even more. "Eh…! U-um… Connor…" he started, grabbing the girl by the arms and pushing him back a little bit, towards his older twin. "Here…take her…"

Conner held out his hands and Yukiro placed the girl in to his older brother's grasp. "There's another girl…Let me get her." Yukiro said, he was careful to drain the test tube before he opened it. Yukiro leaned in to grab the girl when her eyes suddenly snapped open…

Amanda was asleep when she felt the liquid leave and deposit her on the bottom of the test tube; she stirred from her slumber when she felt someone's hand brushed against her arm. She snapped her eyes open and saw a figure, 'You bastard.' She thought as she lashed out, her first connected with its target.

Conner heard the sound of flesh meeting flesh and a howl from his brother, "Yukiro?" He heard a moan from his brother.

"We haven't even introduced ourselves and I'm already getting hit…" Yukiro said as he held his nose.

Amanda gripped the side of her test tube as she shakily pulled herself from her test tube; she could feel the liquid remaining in her chest rattle as she breathed. "Where are we?" She asked, her voice weak but her eyes drifted over to where Jessica lay in the arms of a boy with violet eyes. "Let go of her," Amanda demanded as she took a step out of the test tube, she felt her legs give out from her body weight; they hadn't been used in over a year, the ground rushed up to meet her.

"Erm…alright… So long as you don't hit me, too…" Connor said somewhat meekly, edging away a little bit.

Yukiro rolled his eyes. "Connor…" he said. "Don't." He caught Amanda just in time. "Here…" he said, helping her stand steady but still holding her up.

"You mean…you're not with the freaky scientist…?" Amanda muttered.

Yukiro sweatdropped. "Freaky scientist…?" he asked, frowning a bit. Was she talking about the same scientist that he knew…?

"Yeah…the one with the black hair…" Amanda replied.

Yukiro blinked, somewhat relieved at hearing that. "Black hair…?" he said. No…the one that he knew had white hair…and, well…he didn't really want to think about that scientist at the moment. "Um…no…" He paused for a moment, finding the moment a little awkward. "Erm…I'm Yukiro… And this is my brother, Connor…" He sweatdropped, blushing a bit more. "And you and your friend really need some clothes…"

Amanda looked down and blushed a bright red. "Eh… Um…" She cleared her throat a little. "Oh dear…"

**Stay tuned for more….Be nice and review…Thanks **


	2. Do what?

**Vincent'sGirl06: sits on ground, toasting marshmallows over first review Hello…I feel so special…my first review is a flame! Starlit Anabelle comes over Please meet my co-author. Want some? **

**Starlit Anabelle: sweatdrop You posted our work on Pouts Yea…so?**

**Starlit Anabelle: I told you this would happen….**

**Vincent'sGirl06: I know, I know…**

** I would like to thank my first reviewer for the beautiful and creative flame…and just as a key note…I'm a dudette, not a dude. **

**Okay….lets start the show…**

**What do you mean? What disclaimer?...Fine.**

**Disclaimer: All FFVII characters…not mine….all other characters belong either to me or Starlit Anabelle…**

sighed as she leaned against the door frame; Yukiro was rummaging through a chest filled with clothes. " I passed this room earlier and figured it was a girl's room…guess I was right." Yukiro said as he pulled out an outfit, it consisted of a purple shirt and a dark blue skirt that had one side longer than the other. "This is it…all the others have been eating by moths." He said as he handed them to Amanda, she raised an eyebrow to the skirt.

"I don't wear skirts…" Amanda stated, Yukiro sweatdropped.

"I don't think you have much of a choice." Yukiro said as he waved a hand toward her, blushing slightly. Amanda narrowed her eyes.

"I hate you." Amanda said as she took the clothes from the boy, she tried them on and was surprised when they fit. The shirt, however, was too big. Amanda heard a rustle of movement by the door, she looked up and saw Jessica dressed up in a white blouse and black pants.

Jessica twitched slightly. "…Stop complaining…" she grumbled.

Amanda sweatdropped, looking from one twin to the other. "Ah…what's she all ticked off about now…?"

Connor sweatdropped and sighed a little. "We couldn't find any clothes at fit her in this room or any other room, so…we had to get her some clothes from a children's roo-"

"SHUT UP!" Jessica shouted, flailing. …And it was at that point that she began to go into Edo mode from Fullmetal Alchemist. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE PIPSQUEAK THIRD-GRADER! I'M EIGHT-FREAKING-TEEN AND IN MY SENIOR YEAR-I AM NOT A CHIBIIII!"

Connor sweatdropped, eyes a bit wide. "Alright, alright, I apologize…" he said, taking a small step back and holding his hands up in defense. Yukiro seemed to edge away a little also, but Amanda-who was used to this-calmly walked over and grabbed the petite girl around the arms, much like Alu would do whenever Edo had an outburst like this.

"Calm. Down." Amanda said. She sighed, turning to the others. "So…where's home?"

"Indeed. Where /is/ home…?" Yukiro muttered. He then looked up at the girls. "You two don't know where you live?"

Jessica stopped for a moment and sweatdropped, her ADD switching her mind over to an entirely different subject. "Eh? Oh, no. We don't even know where the hell we are…" she replied with a small shrug.

"Oh…this is Nibelheim…" Yukiro replied. He then sighed slightly. "I guess you two should come with us, then…we don't really have much of a home, but…it'll do, I suppose." He then blinked. "Which reminds me-we don't even know your names…"

Jessica blinked for a moment, thinking. Of course, her semi-paranoid mind was thinking, 'Don'ttrustthemdont'ttrustthemdon'ttrustthem…!' so she grinned slightly and replied, "Kaori…Kaori McTavish! And this is…um…" She looked over at Amanda, sweatdropping. "Dena! …Yeah…"

Amanda sweatdropped, 'She used one of my character's names…' She thought, "Yea…My names is Dena Morala. Nice to meet ya'." Amanda said smiling.

Kaori looked around, "This is where you live?" She asked, Yukiro and Conner nodded. Their home was a dead end alleyway that had been transformed in to some sort of make shift home. The space was big enough to hold a cot, a sofa, and a small kitchen type area; the front door was just a simple sheet.

"Its not much…but it's home." Conner said as he made his way over to the sofa, he sat down and leaned his staff against the wall. "We've been here ever since we could remember." He said. Dena nodded.

"So…I guess you two can get the cot and sofa…Conner and I can sleep on the floor." Yukiro said as he rubbed the back of his head. The two brothers had never really had any company come over and stay the night before.

Dena smiled and shook her head. "It's okay…Kaori and I really don't sleep much now a days." She said, Yukiro blinked.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Kaori ticked the days off of her fingers as she thought. "Hm…seven, eight, nine…ten! Hah! In your face!" she said, pointing to Dena and flailing the pointing arm a bit.

Connor sweatdropped. "Wh…what…?"

"…Contest. I won," Kaori replied with a shrug. "There's not much that you can do in a test tube for who-knows-how-long, and we stayed up a whole lot and made it into a contest of who could stay up the longest, so…I WIN!"

"…Calm down, crazy lady…" Dena said, waving a hand somewhat as she smiled and sweatdropped at Kaori.

Yukiro raised an eyebrow. "…Right…" he said. He sat down on the arm of the sofa. "Well…this is the way it'll be tomorrow, just in case you two start wondering what all is going on. I'm going to be working all day, Connor is going to be going to school…um…I suppose you can go with him and enroll."

Kaori went a little bug-eyed. "Oh shit…that's right…school…AP English…" She sort of fell back onto her butt in a small daze. "I…I think I failed my senior year and…high school, and…" She paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh well. No point in going back home now. We can start over here!"

Dena sweatdropped, "Sorry to disappoint…but I just graduated. I'm not ready to go back to school anytime soon." Dena said as she crossed her arms and shook her head. "Too much drama."

Several days later

Dena sat nervously on a bar stool, the bar's manager frowned as he read the slip of paper. She wore the blue shirt and purple skirt that she had gotten from the mansion, they were the only she had. The bar manager sighed and laid the paper down, " No references, no phone number, nothing…why should I hire you?" He asked as he laid his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand.

"Because…everyone wants a waitress with a cute ass….?" Kaori said as she peaked her head in the bar, Dena turned to her with wide eyes.

'What in the HELL are you doing?' She mouthed, Kaori smiled. They had gotten very good at reading lips during their time in the…cough…tubes.

The bar manager blinked at the sudden appearance of the new girl, he turned to Dena. " I guess…I could hire you…but if you start any trouble. You're fired. Understand?"

Dena smiled and resisted the urge to hug the older man, "Thank you sir. Um…Boss." She said as she jumped off, the man scribbled something down on a piece of paper and gave it to Dena.

"Here is the schedule for this next week." He said, Dena nodded and left with Kaori.

Kaori frowned slightly and sighed. "Meh…I guess I should get a job, too. It's not right making you and Yukiro earn all the money…" she said. After all, Connor had an excuse-nobody would hire him because he couldn't see. Her on the other hand… "Bah…whoever thought that my first job would be in a bar…?"

Dena shrugged and sweatdropped. "You're gonna work there, too? You literally don't have any references…" she said.

"I do! …I was art editor of the Valhalla/Crimson Times. School newspaper and magazine. It was a big responsibility, so…take that!" Kaori replied, huffing and crossing her arms.

Dena chuckled, "So what are you going to do if the owner does hire you?" She said as she crossed her arms and just looked at her friend. Kaori sweatdropped. "Um...work?" she said, blinking. She shook her head. "And I guess do homework during my break time... Why?"

Dena scratched her head, "Well...what are your talents? What do you think you would be good at?" Dena asked, she was drawing a blank when she envisioned Kaori working.

"Um...I can cook, I can draw, I can sing, and I can bounce. It all kind of depends. If they have entertainment, I may sing. If they're low on security, I could bounce...or something. If none of those, then I can cook," Kaori replied with a shrug.

Dena laughed when she heard the word 'bounce.' She wiped away a tear, "Sorry, Kaori...I really can't envision you a bouncer." She said as she patted Kaori on the head, who was a half a head shorter than her. Kaori narrowed her eyes when Dena patted her on the head, "Who in the hell are you calling short!" She screamed as she swiped at Dena; her friend jumped back, smiling the entire way. She loved getting under her friend's skin...somebody had to.

Kaori pointed to her. "Ha! You see! I almost bounced you right then. Take that!" Dena took one of her hands, placed her the tip of her thumb on her nose and wiggled her fingers. "Nya nya...can't catch me!" She sang, an angry vein appeared next to Kaori's head. "GET BACK HERE, BITCH!" She screamed as she chased her friend down the streets.

Dena suddenly tried to skid to a stop as she thought she saw someone in front of her, but couldn't do so in time. CRASH! When she regained her bearings, she saw that she was lying right on top of a swirly-eyed Connor. Huh...she thought something had broken her fall...

Dena's hand shot to her mouth as she gasped, "Oh Connor...are you okay!" She asked as she sat him up, she heard a scream; she turned her head only to see Kaori blow right in to her, shoving her face in to the dirt. "Owww..."Dena moaned.

"Oro..." Kaori groaned, now also with swirly-eyes. Connor sweatdropped, lifting his head slightly. "Um...either of you er...mind getting off...?" Dena groaned as she rolled the dead weight she called a friend off of her, "Sorry..." She sighed as she was able to sit up and help Connor sit up as well.

Connor smiled and sweatdropped. "No problem..." he replied. "I really should've been paying better attention, anyway... So how has the job search been going?" he asked. Dena smiled, "Well...I was able to get a job at the Sunset Bar as a waitress..." She replied, she then dropped her head. "But if I mess up once than I'm out..." She sighed.

Connor reached out groping for his staff, "I'm sure...you'll do fine." He said as his hand brushed along, he smiled in satisfaction as his fingers brushed against smooth wood. "When do you start work?" He asked as he stood, Dena stood up and brushed the dirt off of her skirt (which she still hated by the way). "I start tomorrow night." She replied.

"Pretty harsh that they're giving you only one chance..." Connor commented. "Maybe if you explain why you need the gil... But maybe if that doesn't work out, you could get a mercenary job or something..."

Dena nodded, "The mercenary job would be a good choice if the waitress job at the bar fell through. I'm pretty good with my hands..." She said as she placed her hands behind her head, "Oi...pipsqueak...wake up." Dena said as she nudged her friend in the side with her foot. Kaori shot up to her feet, "Who are you calling a pipsqueak..." She growled, Dena shrugged.

Kaori pointed at her. "You know what? Know what? I will smite yooou!" she said. Connor shook his head as he smiled, " Come on...we need to find some food for dinner." He said as he started walking down the street, his staff tapping lightly in front of him as he went.

Kaori rubbed the back of her head. "Meh...I think just a little bit of fruit would work for me..." she said. Dena nodded, "Sounds good to me...I saw some fruit the other day that looked interesting..." She said as they made their way to the market place.

Kaori looked down at herself. "Ya know... I think that's the one good thing I can say about the test tube thing. It really helped give my little weight-watchers diet a push in the right direction..." she commented. She sweatdropped. "Not that locking yourself up in a test tube is part of that diet, but I think I'm actually at a healthy weight for someone of my height now... I did need to drop about fifteen more pounds, after all..."

Connor blinked and then smiled, "You two are strange." Both girls blinked, "Tell us something we don't know..." They both answered. Connor shook his head but continued to smile, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and beginning to count out the gil in his hand, judging any different coins by size.

"I think we'll have just enough for some food..." Connor replied. He seemed to glance back at them. "Sorry if we seem a bit sparse with our gil. We're trying to save up enough for a real apartment," he explained.

Kaori blinked, tilting her head a little. "Huh...that actually kind of reminds me. Why /do/ you and your brother live in the back of that little alleyway thing? Don't you two have parents...?"

Connor frowned slightly. "Not...really..." he replied a bit hesitantly. He shook his head. "Either way... What matters is that Yukiro and I can look after each other well enough on our own. We've never really needed parents, nor really ever wanted them."

Dena frowned and stared at the ground when she walked, she felt kind of guilty and upset. She felt a bit of guilt for Connor and his brother since they never had any parents. The upset ness...was aimed at her self. She had not thought of her mother, since...in a long time and she hated herself for it. Her mom was her best friend, it must have broken her mother's heart when she disappeared. Connor blinked suddenly, looking toward Dena. "Are you alright...?" he asked.

Dena looked up and was surprised to feel tears running down her cheeks, she reached up and felt the salty liquid with her fingers. How long has it been since she felt tears, it was impossible to shed tears in the test tube. "I'm...just remembering." She said as her voice quivered. She reached up and tried to brush away the tears with her hand, "I just can't seem to stop crying...I'm sorry...I feel so stupid...I just...never got to say goodbye." She whispered the last part, Kaori stared at her friend.

Kaori stood there for a second as she watched Dena, she tentatively laid a hand on her friend's shoulder; it un-nerved her to see Dena like this, she had never really seen her cry before. "Dena...It'll be okay. Maybe it's like one of our fanfics..." Dena half laughed through her tears, always in their fanfics a clone ran around as them until they were able to find some unthinkable way to get back home. "Heh...yea." Dena said as she wiped away her remaining tears, Kaori smiled. "That's Dena I know..." Kaori said.

Dena nodded, feeling a little bit better she turned to Connor who stood there silently with his eyes clothes. "Let's get something to eat...I'm sure Yukiro is about to pass out from hunger pains by now." Dena said smiling.

Connor blinked, a little surprised to see anyone so upset over their parents. The last parent he saw, he was practically in tears, too...only to get away from them. He then smiled faintly and shook his head. "We don't have to really worry about getting food for Yukiro... He works hard from morning until night, several jobs a day. He has his meals already..." he replied. "Though we still need to get food for ourselves." He paused for a moment in front of the general store. "General store...right?" he asked, wondering how accurate he was. Kaori smiled, "Bingo!" She said.

Connor nodded, turning in and followed by the others. "What should we get...?" he wondered. It wasn't as if they had that great of a makeshift kitchen...hell, they were lucky enough to have just an old-fashioned stove-they used to have to use a campfire back when they were little. And a refrigerator..? ...It was lucky that they lived up in the mountains were it was cool all the time. They didn't have a fridge-it was another thing they were saving up for. And bathrooms and such for washing and restroom breaks were thankfully lent to them by some friendly shopkeepers down the street.

"Some fruit of course...they can last for a couple of days no problem. If we get anything refrigerated than we better plan on eating it within a two hour time." Kaori said as they walked inside. "Hm...The refrigerated items can actually last up to a day or two... If you hadn't noticed, it never really gets very warm up here in the mountains. Not to mention that we're so far north, we're close to the north continent where the snow never melts," Connor explained.

Kaori sweatdropped, "Need I remind you...we've never even been outside of town...how are we supposed to know the geography..." She said, Dena shook her head and walked a bit away from her group over to the fruit section. There were so many different kinds of fruit, some were sort of familiar; some resembled apples and pears but beyond that...it was all new territory for both girls. Dena blinked a saw an interesting fruit, she reached to pick it up only to come in contact with another person's hand who was reaching for the same piece of fruit. Dena and the strange girl blinked, Dena recovered quickly. "Oh...I'm sorry. Go ahead and take it...I was only looking." Dena said as she picked up the fruit and put it in the girl's gloved hands.

The girl blinked again, the tossed the fruit back to Dena and shook her head. "Nah. This fruit seems a lot more appetizing..." she said as she picked up a different piece of fruit. She turned to a blonde old man and waved the fruit around a little bit. "Hey, Cid! How much gil do I have to steal from you guys?" she called over.

Dena nodded and caught the fruit, "By the way...My name is Yuffie-the white rose of Wutai." Yuffie giggled Dena sweatdropped but smiled non-the less. "Yuffie...it's a pleasure to meet you...My name is Dena." She said as she extended her hand, Yuffie smiled as they shook hands. "Nice to meet you too." Yuffie said. Dena suddenly blinked, "Hey Yuffie...can you tell me which fruits are good? My friend and I are new to this area and we don't know anything about this place..." Dena said as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Yuffie observed the shelves, beginning to point things out. It was an odd little grand tour, leading the blonde man off to the side-Cid-to roll his eyes. "Dammit, Yuffie! We don't have time for this!" he barked out.

Yuffie paused for a moment to stick her tongue out at him. "We have plenty of time. If you want to go check out weapons and stuff, then just go already, gramps." The man called Cid sighed and paid for his things, he then left through the front door, and Yuffie grinned. "Don't mind him...he's always like that." She said as she waved her hand from side to side. She watched him leave. "Be sure to tell the others that I'll catch up in a second!" she said.

Kaori and Connor suddenly came over, Dena smiled and greeted them. "Yuffie these are my friends. Kaori and Conner...Kaori is the one that I mentioned earlier..."

Yuffie grinned and waved with one hand behind her back. "Hiya," she said. Kaori blinked. "Um...yo," she said. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie said, smiling. "Nice to meet you!" "...You don't really look like a ninja..." Kaori pointed out.

Yuffie stuck out her tongue, "Nya...looks can be deceiving." She said, Conner nodded. "Indeed." He said. Dena took a piece of fruit that Yuffie had shown her and placed it in Conner's hand, "Have you ever had this type of fruit, Conner?" She asked, Conner frowned in slight concentration and felt of the fruit. He suddenly smiled, "Oh yes...This is fruit goes by the name of Tempai. It's one of my favorites." He said, Yuffie blinked obviously confused. "Hey Kaori...want to split it?" Dena asked.

Kaori looked over, blinking, and then nodded. "Oh, yeah. Okie," she replied, going though the sodas and stuff. "Let's not forget drinks, though..." She opened the door to the fridge. "Awesome. They have Sobe even here... Or something along those lines... Either way, a lot of the same flavors," she commented as she grabbed a glass bottle of green tea. "Dena, what are you getting?"

Dena shrugged, "Doesn't matter...after not eating for as long as we did...everything tastes good." She replied, she ran a hand through her hair...her very long hair. After spending a year in the tube with no scissors in sight, it had grown down to her waist compared to her shoulder length hair from before. "Maybe I should get it cut before I go in for work tomorrow..." Dena said to her self, Yuffie turned and blinked. "I think you look great with long hair..." She replied.

"Eh, it'll be better long. It'll keep you warmer while we're living up here," Kaori said, grabbing a tangerine (XD) Sobe from the fridge. Dena sweatdropped, "Great analysis." She mumbled as Connor handed the fruit back to her. "I'll get a couple more things and then we can go back home." Kaori said, Dena nodded. Yuffie scratched her head, "What did you mean...after not eating for as long as you guys did? Did something happen?" She asked, Dena smiled. "Don't worry about it...It was nice meeting you, Yuffie." Dena said as she started walking over to where Connor and Kaori were checking out. Yuffie nodded, "Nice meeting ya'll too."

They only ended up buying a bag of groceries, but with the way that Dena and Kaori were eating...it would last them a few days. Dena carried the bag despite Connor's protests. "So, I'm guessing that you both got the night shift?" Connor asked, finally relenting in the argument. Dena sighed, "Yep...I hate working nights because it makes me feel like a bat...sleeping all day. Hopefully I can get my schedule changed for something earlier." Dena said, Kaori agreed.

But the agreement didn't last long. Kaori thought for a moment. "But on the other hand, I don't mind too much..." she said. "I'm fine being a bat. I'm not kidding when I say that sunlight drains me. I only like night time and cloudy/overcast, possibly rainy or stormy days." Dena smiled, "That's just because you're weird." She said as she stuck her tongue out at Kaori, the red head returned the raspberry.

Kaori then smirked. "Probably part vampire and proud of it!" she said. Connor sweatdropped, "You two...be nice." "I am nice..." Kaori said, trying to look innocent. "About as nice as a pissed off snake." Dena smirked as she spun around and started walking backwards. "Show off." Kaori said.

"Fine, then! I'm a green mamba! And you know what green mambas can do..?" Kaori said. Before Dena could really reply, Kaori continued, "Strike at about a twelve-foot distance! So rawr!" she said, making a move as if to tackle the brunette. "You're not even five feet tall...how can you strike twelve feet away." Dena said, she knew that Kaori would become pissed off.

"I'M 5'2, DAMMIT! ALMOST 5'3! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A PIPSQUEAK MIDGET THAT COULD BE BEATEN BY AN ANT!" Kaori shouted, flailing a bit. Dena playfully stuck out her tongue, "Sorry my mistake..." She said, Kaori growled. "Take this." Kaori shouted as she rushed at her friend, Dena took a leap back to avoid her friend's swipes.

The bad thing about jumping backwards...you can't see where you're going. Dena yelped a bit when she bumped in to somebody, Kaori slid to a stop; Dena felt hands grab her shoulders to prevent her from falling. She blinked and turned around; there stood a blonde boy with blue eyes and a sword on his back. "Oh...I'm so sorry." Dena said as she bowed.

Kaori looked up, blinking, her cheeks turning a light pink. "Erm...yeah, don't mind us..." she said, grabbing Amanda by the arm and pulling her back over toward Connor. "C'mon, let's go..." she hissed. Dena blinked then smirked, "Aw...you know...he is quite the cutie." Dena whispered, only loud enough for Kaori to hear. She almost laughed when she saw Kaori's face flush.

"Shut up..!" Kaori said, flailing a little and not glancing back at the blonde as they made their way over to Connor. They found him paused in the middle of the street, eyes turned toward the sky in the distance, back to the mountains but more towards the sea. Dena's smile fell a bit, "Is everything alright Connor?" She asked.

Connor blinked, seeming a little startled as he glanced back at her. "Hm? Oh! Erm...fine," he replied. He shook his head. "Just thought I heard somebody calling me..." Kaori looked around, then back at Connor and blinked. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it..?" Connor paused for a moment, and then shrugged. "I...Probably did." He shook his head, waving a hand dismissively. "Forget about it..." Dena smiled, "Come on...Let's get home and put this stuff away. I'm actually starting to get hungry."

**Ooooh….what will happen now that we've met the FF gang… guess you'll just have to wait and see…I will ask again…please no flames. If you didn't like the story than just press the 'Back' button on your internet window and you'll never have to read this story again…but…the story will get better. The beginning is always slow…**


	3. Tough day for all

**Thanks Skavema for our first positive review! We give you our first 'Awesome Award' Enjoy.**

**Here is the third chapter. Hope you like it…**

**Stupid Disclaimer: FF game and characters…not ours…..other characters – ours.**

**All review are welcome.**

Next Day

Dena smiled as she took the customer's orders, "Okay...It will be a few moments." She said as she put away her pad and pen, she went over to the bar and placed the order on the rack for the cook. She sighed as she took a rag and started wiping the crud off of the bar counter, people could be so nasty. The bell at the door jingled as the door was opened, Dena looked up automatically; she saw Kaori, Yukiro, and Connor in the door way. "Hi guys." She greeted.

Yukiro blinked, looking a little surprised. "Here before me...?" he asked. "Yea...the boss asked me to come early so he could show me the works." Dena said as she dumped the crumbs in the trash, she tossed the dirty rag in to the sink. Yukiro nodded. "Ah... I just came from my last job, so I normally don't get here too early..." he explained, going into the back to start getting to work.

Kaori turned to Dena, "So...how's work?" She asked, Dena sweatdropped. "Like work..." She replied, Connor smiled. "Let's go sit down..." Connor said, Dena nodded and started walking over to an empty table; Connor followed the sound of her footsteps. "Gah... I'm gonna have to get to work in about an hour. I'm just gonna stay here and do homework until then," Kaori said, setting her math book down on the table.

Dena smiled at her friends, the door jingled again; she turned to greet the new customers. "Oh! It's Dena." Came a voice from none other than Yuffie, behind her was a group of people; she recognized Cid from before and the blonde haired boy. "Didn't know that kids like you worked in the bar... They just keep getting younger and younger, huh?" Cid said, raising an eyebrow.

Dena sweatdropped, " I'm not a kid." She said smiling, although her lip was twitching lightly, "Where would you like it sit?" She asked as she looked at the group. It consisted of five people; Yuffie, Cid, the blonde boy, a tall girl with big breasts, and another man. The other man struck her as strange, he had a metal arm and blood red eyes; that and he seemed to look at her strangely. "Can I help you?" She asked, the man blinked.

The man blinked again, eyes widening for a moment. "Lucrecia..!" he murmured. Dena's face twisted in confusion, she brushed a piece of hair behind her right ear. "I'm sorry...My name is Dena." She said, she hated telling him that he was confusing her with someone else. "But..." The man frowned, confused. 'Could she be related somehow..?'

Vincent shook his head, deciding to just let it go...for right now, anyway. "Sorry..." he muttered. He glanced back at the others. "Well...you guys can decide on where we sit." He shrugged.

Dena shook her head, "I've only been here for a few days..." She said, 'Not including the time in the test tube...' She though as she sweatdropped. Vincent shook his head, deciding to just let it go...for right now, anyway. "Sorry..." he muttered. He glanced back at the others. "Well...you guys can decide on where we sit." He shrugged.

The others nodded, taking their seats. Kaori meanwhile, stood. "Should probably just go on ahead and get started for work..." she muttered, partially to procrastinate from doing homework.

"Oh Dena..." Yuffie said as she suddenly remembered something, "I never introduced you to everyone." She said, "This is Cid, you saw him in the store." Cid gave a slightly wave. " This is Tifa, " She said motioning to the other girl, "Cloud." Blonde hair boy from yesterday, "And this is Vincent." Dena smiled.

"Its nice to meet everyone." Dena said slightly bowing her head. She looked over to see her boss slightly pissed, "Back to work." Dena said as she walked off, she walked past Yuffie's table and had to squeeze past this one sleazy old man who stared at her but like a starved dog...oh god. Kaori glanced back at Dena, catching the scene and sweatdropping. "Three...two..."

She looked from the dirty old man to her boss then back to the old man. She had half a mind to knock the guy in to next week but...she steadied herself and walked over to the kitchen where a table's food now sat, ready to be delivered. She delivered the food to its table and went to take Yuffie and the other's orders. She placed the pad on the table and started writing down the orders, she was in the middle of writing down Tifa's order when Dena's mind went blank, her jaw dangled open slightly; the old man was standing behind her with a look of victorious conquest as he gripped her left butt cheek.

Kaori looked up and sweatdropped, unsure what all to do at this point. To drag Dena into the back, to beat up the guy herself, or to start going 'Out! Everybody out!' to everyone in the vicinity like the donut ladies in Brian Regan standup.

Dena saw Kaori move to stop her but it was too late, she felt the satisfying crunch of the old man's nose breaking against her fist. The old man's face quickly went from glee to pain, he howled as he gripped his face. Dena was stopped by Yuffie, Tifa, and Kaori as she tried to pound the little guy farther in to the dirt. "Sleaze bag!" She shouted as Cloud moved over to then man, the man howled as Cloud snapped his nose back in to place. Out of the corner of Dena's eye she saw the boss coming over, he knocked back Cloud's group "Morala." He hissed and grabbed Dena roughly by the arm. He lead her out through the back door, he roughly pushed her out. "You're fired." He said before slamming the door.

Kaori sweatdropped, then looked over at Yukiro. She then let out a sigh, turning to the manager. "Fuck this game..." she said. She pointed to him. "It's four in the morning, grandpa-you win! ...And I should cut your head off with this little doggie..." She looked down at the bottle in her hand. "Er...bottle. Bye!" she said, waving and walking out, following Dena.

Kaori then turned to Dena. "Alrighty. Let's head home," she said. "We'll have to figure out some sort of way to earn cash tomorrow. One that doesn't involve old perverts. And Monopoly."

Dena smiled faintly, "Yea..." She said, she stopped over by a small barrel of water that sat below a drain pipe. She took a moment to wash the old man blood off her fist, "Hey...aren't you going to work at the bar?" She asked.

"Meh...not if it involves getting groped and not being allowed to fight back..." Kaori replied. "Besides, I think gramps is going to get a restraining order on me...and doggies."

Meanwhile

Connor picked up around their little 'house'. It was really the least that he could do-the others were all working, and so he had to do something to help out. He had left the bar a little while ago and had finished up his homework, so now he was sort of cleaning the best he could. Finally letting out a soft sigh as he set the blanket that went to the couch down, he lifted his head upwards, then suddenly frowned and lifted a hand to lightly touch his forehead.

"What on earth..." he murmured, turning to the curtain and pushing it back to walk out of the alleyway and into the mostly-empty street of Nibelheim. He looked out towards the sea again, a confused frown on his face. After several moments, he let out another sigh, shaking his head. "..That's the /second/ time I've started to hear things today..." he murmured, turning to go back into the alleyway. Little did he know… a shadow sat up on top of the water tower, watching him.

The shadowy figure smirked, and then climbed to its feet. The noise caused Connor to freeze with surprise. "Well, well..." rang out a voice. A woman jumped off the edge and landed on the ground. She was tall and slender, wearing black hakama and light blue gi with long, almost spiky silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. "It seems it is true..." Connor frowned, taking a couple of steps back as he heard the sandaled footsteps approaching. "You can hear our mother. You really are Ice..."

Connor frowned, taking a couple of steps back, staff ready for more than simply guidance. "Who are you?" he demanded. "I am Serenity..." she said, blue-green eyes looking amused. "But I'm also known as Star, for that's what I am. Just as you are our Ice... We've been looking for you, you know. Mother would love to meet you..." Star said, taking a few more steps toward Connor.

Connor frowned. "Stay back..!" he ordered, glaring slightly. Star seemed to smile, "Why...what ever for...All I want to do is take you to Mother." She said, her voice coated in fake hurt.

"My mother disappeared a long time ago. And after meeting my father, well...I have no real desire to see any more possible relatives," he shot back, a faint bit of sarcasm lacing his voice. "Now just let me be. I am a blind, homeless boy that lives with his own scarred mind, his brother, and his two friends. I have nothing that you could ever possibly want," Connor said, heading back over toward the alleyway.

"You truly have no idea...do you?" Star asked. "I might, though I don't want to. Either way, whatever you have planned...I want no part in it." "I don't believe you have a choice. " She said as she smiled, a shadow passed over her face giving her a sinister look.

Connor stopped for a moment, then sighed. "...Do not think that you can attack me and be confident that victory is assured. I am not entirely helpless." The woman smirked, taking out several needles. "Well then, we'll just see about that..." she said.

Connor took a couple of steps back, towards the alleyway, then broke into a run, heading down the street instead…

As Connor ran by, Kaori looked up, blinking. "Hey...is that Connor?" Dena blinked, "I think it was..." A girl suddenly ran past them, their eyes locked for a moment; a sinister smirk formed on her lips before she looked ahead and continued to follow Connor. "He's in trouble..." Dena said as she grabbed her friends hand and they both ran after the two.

"What the- But who would be after Connor?" Kaori wondered as they ran. "I mean...I know he gets picked on by some jerks at school sometimes, but...I've never seen this girl before..." "Do you remember what happened earlier yesterday?" Dena asked as she ran, "I think it might have something to do with it." She said, she could feel her legs strain as she took a corner sharply. She grabbed the light post to help turn, the friction from the metal burned her hand.

"You really think so..?" Kaori asked. "You mean that whole stopping in the middle of the street thing, right? I dunno-I mean, he did say that he heard somebody, but that should be perfectly natural in a tiny town like this..." "I don't know...but what else can we do?" Dena said.

Connor panted as he ran, how long had it been since he had run…from anything? If his memory was right then he should be close where the bar was, there his brother was working; his sanctuary...He suddenly heard the sound of somebody jumping and landing on their feet in front of him. He skidded to a stop.

His head snapped up as the footsteps approached him quicker now, backing him into a wall and then suddenly stopping. Was she going to let him run free...? ...No...instead, he was startled to hear something being thrown at him, highly accurate, amazingly quick. ...And then he was pinned to the wall by his clothes... "Let me go!" he shouted, hoping that someone, anyone would hear-anyone on his side, of course.

The woman stopped in front of him, smirking and raising a needle. "I don't think so..." she said. "Time to go night night..." She heard a shout and turned her head to see what caused it, her head snapped to the side as a punch fell against her cheek. She stumbled back several steps, Dena stood there in front of Connor clenching and unclenching her fists; Kaori was busy pulling Connor off the wall.

Dena smirked, "I thought we could join then fun." She said, she resisted the urge to rub her fist that she had punched with; her hand was almost completely numb. Connor turned sightless eyes toward Kaori, then over toward Dena. "Th...thank you..." he muttered.

Star smirked, "So...you're the 'friends' that Ice was talking about. It's so nice of you to join us...now he can hear your screams as I kill you both...Friends are so...so expendable." She chuckled. His eyes widened though when he heard what Star had said. "No!" he exclaimed. "Please...don't kill them..."

Dena relaxed her hands and raised them up to her chest, one farther forward than the other; she took a step forward and settled in to a stance. "Well, Kaori...looks like we get to see how much we've forgotten." Dena smirked, they had both taken karate when they were younger. But it was several years ago...hopefully the basics weren't totally trashed...then they might have a chance.

"Probably less than you," Kaori said, having been in classes a year before back home. "Think we stand very much of a chance against needles? I mean, if this is like Naruto at all..."

Dena kind of laughed, "Just some advice...don't die." She said, Kaori shook her head. "If you die before me...than I'm dragging you back from hell and kill you myself." Kaori said as she pulled the last of the needles out of Connor's clothing, he fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap.

"Don't fight..." He begged. "I don't want my new friends to die." He said, Kaori pushed him toward the direction of the bar. "Go..." She said, Star smirked. "I won't let you have the chance." She laughed as she threw needles at Kaori and Dena.

Dena dove to the side, she landed on her hands and used them to propel her away. She winced when she felt something pull in her shoulder, a burning sensation quickly followed. 'Okay...haven't done that in a really.../really/ long time.' She thought.

Kaori dodged to the other side, using the clock drills that she had learned in karate rather than doing full-blown dives. Seeing more needles come, she jumped nimbly back diagonally, remaining on the balls of her feet. Huh...not too much different from class changes in the hall, and with about the same amount of deadliness: you fall in the hall, you get trampled. You get hit here, you get stabbed. School really is deadly...

Connor slowly climbed to his feet to head off to the bar when Star glanced back at him. "You will not get away!" she shouted, throwing one of her needles at him. The boy was hit, eyes widening as he tripped, landing on the ground hard and not moving.

Star turned, starting toward him, hands full of needles and senses spread out should she need to whip around and stab anyone attempting to attack her from behind. "I told you..." she said. "I told you not to run, but you did it anyway..."

Dena's eyes widened as her friend struck the ground, she stared at his unmoving body; her breathing became in shallow gasps, her body trembled. She had just seen one of her new friends die, a sudden rage unlike any she had ever felt boiled to the surface. That girl had killed him and she couldn't do anything.

"Damn you to hell." She screamed, as she rushed Star. The girl smirked as she heard the girl coming toward her, ' So predictable.' She thought as she spun around to impale Dena as she charged her.

Star smirked, but even she looked surprised when a gunshot rang out and the needle was suddenly shot from her hand. She yelped, then remembered that there was still a girl charging at her and jumped out of the way, tossing some needles in seemingly-random circles, but with enough precision to pin the two girls to the wall and up at the source of the gunshot. As she turned her back to the girls to look up at these new attackers, she murmured, "So many interruptions..." She then added in a louder voice, "Oh, and don't be /too/ ticked off. He's not dead, just unconscious. I wouldn't be able to bring him with me while he's kicking and screaming like a little child..."

Star narrowed her eyes at the new intruders that stood in-between her and her target, "This will not do..." She sighed, "Later." She laughed as she disappeared in to the shadows.

Dena snarled as she strained against the needles hold, her shirt sleeve ripped and she managed to get one arm free and start freeing the rest of her. She didn't really notice Vincent walking toward her, his gun smoking.

"Are you alright?" He asked as she pulled the last of the needles out of her shirt, they fell to the ground with a ping. "Just great." She said, she looked over at where Connor was being revived. The area where the needles had pierced him were stained red, "I thought we had lost him..." she said to no one unparticular. She walked over to where Kaori was still stuck to the wall, "What fun..." Kaori said as she pulled away from the wall when all the needles were gone.

Dena sat down on the ground and pulled the scrunche out of her hair, allowing it to fall free; she placed the little item on her right wrist. Her anger had diminished and her head was clearing, she looked over to where Vincent stood. She vaguely remember hearing a gun shot and seeing that he was the only one with a gun..."Thank you." She said, Vincent's head snapped up.

Vincent paused for a long moment, then regained his calm composure. "No problem..." he said. He looked up at the roof, watching as another figure dropped down. Cloud walked over, looking from one person to the next. "You didn't get the person?" the blonde asked. Vincent shook his head. "No...only one of the weapons," he replied.

Dena felt her heart sink, he was busy saving her hind end then stopping Star. "Heh...damn..." She whispered, she chuckled which earned a stare from both Cloud and Vincent. She suddenly stood up and brushed the dirt off of her skirt, 'Damn...I really really hate skirts.' She thought, she walked over to where Connor was now sitting; his face was twisted in slight pain. The needles had been removed and his brother was fussing over him like a protective mother hen. "Will you be alright?" She asked.

Connor nodded, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his neck where he had been struck, and smiled weakly. "Heh... Yes, I'll be fine. I've had worse..." he replied.

Dena smiled, "You had me seriously worried..." She said as she gently patted him on his right knee, "Yukiro...have anything under control?" She asked as she looked up at Connor's brother, he nodded. "Yea...We're probably going to stay somewhere else tonight." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. Dena nodded, "Alright...I'll see you tomorrow." She said, Kaori blinked. "Where are you going?" She asked, Dena turned to look at her friend. "To think." She said.

Kaori sweatdropped. "Well follow us so that you know where we're going. Whether or not you go off to think, I'm not gonna let you stay outdoors all night and catch a cold," she pointed out. Dena rolled her eyes. Kaori stuck her tongue out at Dena. "That's right. I'm an author, so I've made a bunch of kids. I know how to be motherly.". "Yes/mother/..." she said. Dena couldn't help but roll her eyes again. "This is real life..." She turned to Yukiro, " Can't you just give me directions?" She asked.

Yukiro paused for a moment to think, then nodded. "We're going to be staying in former mako reactor tonight... I don't think it's still in use, so it should be okay. There's a path that leads through the woods and through a couple of the mountains. It might be best to take someone with you, though..." Dena blinked, 'Mako reactor?' she thought, there were so many things that were unfamiliar to her. "I'll be alright...I won't go far." She said as she stood up.

Dena walked off, she could feel several pairs of eyes follow her until she turned a corner and left their line of vision. She barely registered where she was going, she was just walking but she suddenly found herself somewhere she never thought she would visit; the gates of ShinRa Mansion. It had been a week since the boys had removed them from the test tubes, and a week since their new life had begun. Dena stood there a moment at the gates before taking a hand and opening them, they let out a loud groan as they swung open.

She didn't notice the shadow staring down at her from a near by tree, she walked up the mansion's front doors; she grabbed the ring on one of the doors and pulled. Dust and dirt fell from the door but it creaked open, inside the moon shown through the shattered stain glass window. The floor was broken in places and had begun to grow grass in the cracks, pieces of ceiling also littered the ground. Dena found it hard to believe that this place was once beautiful, even if it was the home of a mad man.

Dena looked around for a moment, she quickly walked past the door way that led to the underground where they had been kept; she somehow found herself in the bedroom from before. The chest was still open from when Yukiro had gotten clothes for her, the room was messy but was somehow still intact for the most part. There was a bed and dresser, both covered in a thick film of dust; something on the dresser caught her eye.

It was a picture frame and the only one there, Dena walked over and gently picked it up. She took her thumb and delicately brushed away some of the dust, it reveled a part of the picture; a beautiful woman stared at her, she brushed away more until the entire picture was revealed. In the picture was two beautiful women and a small girl that looked to be only two years old, they sat in beautiful field of flowers with two trees side by side.

The two women looked a lot a like, close enough in fact to be cousins or even sisters. One woman wore the clothes that Dena had on now. 'This must have been her room...' Dena thought, she felt something prodding in the back of her mind; did she recognize these people? Dena stared at the photo, in her mind's eye...she saw something...

The picture frame crashed to the floor...

_Tiny, bare feet slapped grass filled ground. Laughter filtered past her lips, "Auntie Lu! Auntie Lu!" A voice said as a woman came in to view...the same woman from the picture. Tiny arms wrapped around the woman's legs._

Dena held the side of her head which was throbbing almost painfully, 'What was that?' She thought, she had fallen to her knees beside the dresser; one hand gripped the edge so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

Footsteps were heard crossing the creaking floorboards as hands reached down to help her up. "..Are you alright..?" Vincent's voice could be heard asking behind her. "You should be careful..." he nodded down at the shattered glass of the picture frame. "You'll end up hurting yourself..."

"I don't know what happened...I was just looking at the picture and...I remembered something, I think...It doesn't make any sense." Dena said as she continued to hold her head, nothing like that had ever happened before. She had grown up in the other world...right? If she did...then was it someone else's memories she was seeing?

Vincent frowned, then shook his head. "You're probably tired..." he said. "Come on-you can sort it all out when we arrive at the reactor." Dena shook her head, "No...I'm not tired." She straightened up, her head starting to stop its throbbing. "Besides...I want to see something..." She said, Vincent blinked. She lid past Vincent to get to the door, he followed her; obviously curious.

As they headed down the stairway, Vincent couldn't help but wonder how she knew about the old lab-it /was/ in a secret passageway, after all. When they made their way down the hall, he paused for a moment to glance into his old 'room', then shook his head and followed again, curious to see what she was up to.

Dena reached the room, behind the door was the lab that they had spent an entire year in...it was creepy; she never thought that she would be willing to enter it under her own will. The lab door swung open easily enough, they made their way down to the lab; the smell of the test tube liquid still hung in the air, it was not all that pleasant. "Bleh...Nasty stuff." Dena said to herself, Vincent blinked at her comment. She walked across the lab to where the scientist had been sitting when they had first woken up, hell...even the nail still sat on the desk from when he put it down after he had gotten it away from Kaori.

Dena looked at the mess of papers on the desk, it was all written in what looked like complete chicken scratch; completely illegible. "Figures...the guy sounded like a parrot...it makes sense that he would like a bird..." She said as she shoved the papers of the desk, she still hated the perverted bastard.

Vincent raised an eyebrow. Now he had two questions in mind. First off, what was this girl searching for? And second, how did she know Hojo..? "What are you searching for..?" Vincent finally asked, red eyes idly reading over the...interesting and one-sided conversation written on the glass of one of the test tubes.

"Our stuff." Came Dena's muffled reply, Vincent turned to look where Dena dug through one of the desk drawers. She obviously didn't find what she was looking for because she slammed the drawer shut and moved on to the next one.

So, she and her friend (or friends?) had been here for a while... "How long were you here?"

Dena sighed as she looked through the last drawer and came up empty. "I think...maybe a year. It was hard to tell since the stupid bastard didn't put a clock in this stupid lab." She said as she stood up, she glanced at the test tube that Kaori had been in; she smirked at the inscription that she had scratched in to the glass when she had first gotten a hold of the nail.

"Huh...then what you're searching for /might/ still be here... But that's a very big might. Hojo or somebody else could've taken your things already..." He pulled something thin and black and fairly familiar-looking out from underneath a desk. "Could this be one of those things..?"

Dena smiled and took it from him, "Thanks...it's Kaori's laptop." Dena said as she opened it up and pressed the power button, nothing happened. "It just might be out of power." Dena concluded as she closed it and placed it in the crook of her arm. "Let's go...I don't want to spend anymore time in here than I have to." Dena said as she moved toward the door. Vincent pulled a black cord with a black box attached to it, raising an eyebrow before shrugging and nodding as he pocketed it and followed.

**Review please….Next chapter will be posted tomorrow. **


	4. Waffles?

**Hello…Here's chapter four as promised. Enjoy…**

**Disclaimer: I own all Final Fantasy characters…especially Vincent. looks over at group of lawyers Okay…I just own Vincent. Lawyers are still there Okay FINE! I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters… Lawyers leave…I hate you...**

"Oi...Kaori!" Dena called as she entered the reactor, Kaori looked up and blinked at her friend. Dena held up her laptop and smiled, Kaori's eyes went wide. "WAHH!" She screamed and ran toward Dena, "You found it! Wait! You went back there!" She said as she grabbed her laptop, her beloved Yuki... She hugged Yuki, letting out a muted squeal that was eerily close to Winry's whenever finding a piece of new technology, then looked back up at Dena, waiting for a reply.

Dena nodded. "Yep," she replied. "Couldn't find our clothes, though..." Everyone blinked, when the girls finally noticed their stares they shifted uncomfortably. "Hey...can I talk to you outside?" Dena whispered, Kaori picked up on the worry in Dena's voice. "Sure." She responded.

Kaori placed Yuki down on the ground next to Connor, "Don't let any body touch this...I just got it back..." She said, Connor nodded and smiled. "I'll protect it." He said smiling, Dena and Kaori left to go outside. Yuffie and Tifa blinked, "What do you think happened?" Yuffie asked, Vincent stared at where the girls had disappeared to.

Kaori and Dena found secluded tree from where they could talk privately, they sat with their backs against the tree trunk. "What do you want to talk about?" Kaori said, Dena sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Something strange happened when I went to the mansion." Dena said, Kaori raised an eyebrow. "Parrot came back?" She asked, Dena shook her head no. She rubbed her hands together, feeling the heat gather in her hands from the friction.

Kaori stared at her for a moment, then made a little spinning gesture with her hand, motioning for her to continue. "..Go on..."

Dena paused for a moment, it was so hard to organize her thoughts; it was all so confusing. "Did you ever feel...like you really didn't belong...before we got transported here?" She asked, she had no other place to begin... "Like you were there by mistake?"

Kaori raised an eyebrow. "Every second of every day..." she replied.

Dena smiled, "Do you remember the first time we met?" She asked, her eyes glazed over as she remembered. How long had it been eight...nine years? "It felt right...it felt right that we knew each other. And now...I have that feeling but all over the place...Like I'm finally where I belong. Like I've found my own space that was made especially for me..." She trailed off, "I can't explain it..."

Kaori nodded. "Yeah, I gotta agree... I mean, I thought that it was just because this place reminds me of Washington, but... I dunno. The fact that you're sensing it, too, would be a pretty big coincidence..."

"But that's not all of it..." Dena said as she closed her eyes and drew her knees to her chest, "Have you ever seen any of your baby pictures at your house?" She asked, she felt like there was more to this story...and they were getting close.

Kaori shook her head. "Not many...and the ones that I have seen might have been Elena's. I know that there are toddler pictures, but..." "I haven't seen any of my baby pictures either...I don't think that they exist...not in the other world at least." Dena mumbled.

"Do you think we're really from here..?" Dena sighed, "I can't be sure...but it all can't be a coincidence. I had a memory, vision, or what ever you want to call it...earlier...after I saw a picture. I just don't know anymore." Dena said.

Kaori looked thoughtful. "That is suspicious... If we're not from this world originally, then the only other thing that I could really think of is reincarnation..."

"We can't be sure...but my 'vision' it was so real. I remember running and calling out to someone...she was in the picture. I think she was my aunt...or that's what I called her." Dena said, she rubbed her forehead; she could feel a headache developing. "This day has all gone to hell." She sighed. "I know we can't be imagining it..." She trailed off.

Kaori nodded. "Ya know, I think we should go on ahead and get some sleep for tonight. We haven't slept much in the past few days anyway, so it's almost a period of when we need it, now that we're more active. We can work this out with a clear head in the morning." She nodded.

Dena nodded, "Right..." She said, Kaori stood up and extended her hand toward her friend; Dena took her friends hand was hoisted to her feet. The two went back inside only to find the group mostly asleep, only Vincent was awake; he stared at the two as they walked it. Dena and Kaori nodded in his direction as a type of greeting and went over to one of the far walls; Dena grabbed a spare blanket and handed it to Kaori.

Dena grabbed one for her self; Kaori lay down with her back against the wall and closed her eyes. Dena sighed and wrapped the blanket around her body, she pulled her knees up to her chest, crossed her arms and placed them on the tops of her knees, she then rested her head on her arms; an awkward way to sleep but try sleeping in a test tube.

Dena only slept for two hours but her mind wouldn't let her sleep any more than that. She sat there for several more minutes before Vincent noticed her, "Why aren't you asleep?" He asked, she blinked and shrugged. "Not used to sleeping much...besides...my mind is too busy." She responded.

Vincent nodded with understanding. "I see..." he commented. "And I suppose that this place isn't very comfortable, either..." Dena smiled faintly, " At least I have room to move around." She said. Vincent nodded. "And the ability to walk around freely..." he agreed. "When did you get out?"

"Like I said when we first met...I've only been around for a few days…" She said, "I wasn't lying." Vincent nodded.

"I never said that you were..." he commented. "Though it is a bit of a surprise that we went and never noticed you there... I suppose that Hojo left you both in the lab while we were all worrying about Sephiroth..."

Dena blinked, "Hojo...was the scientist?" She asked, "Great...now I don't have to make up a name to call the sick bastard..." She said then frowned, "Who was Sephiroth?" It was about time she started getting some information about the place they were now living...

"Sephiroth was an experiment of Hojo's-a human with the cells of an alien fossil called Jenova injected into him before birth," Vincent explained. "Last year we had to kill him to keep him from destroying the planet..." Dena blinked, 'Last year?' She thought, "How did he almost destroy the planet?" She asked...

"He summoned a meteor to hit it," Vincent replied. "Though as you can see, it didn't cause too much damage..." "Would you say that it was pretty close to a year ago that he summoned the meteor?" She asked, she felt her insides shaking...there were so many possibilities... Vincent nodded. "Yes," he replied.

Dena felt her eyes widen and her breath catch in her throat, she brushed the hair back from her face. 'My god.' She thought, "What stopped the meteor?" She asked. "The planet, with the help of the lifestream and the last of the ancients, Aeris," Vincent replied.

Dena closed her eyes and rested her head on her knees. Her mind felt even more crowded with all this new information, it was almost too much to fast. "Today has been a seriously long day." Dena sighed as she stood up, the blanket falling away from her. She started walking toward the door, "I need some air."

"You sure you'll be fine on your own?" Vincent asked. "The boys requested that you come here with someone because it isn't safe to go wandering around at night. Many creatures lurk in the forest, after all." "Come if it will make you feel better." She said before disappearing though the door way. Vincent blinked, then stood and followed.

The man looked up, frowning slightly as he caught the hints of voices drifting on the chilly breeze, off in the direction of behind the reactor. "Hm..?" Dena looked up at Vincent. "What is it..?" she asked. Vincent nodded over toward the source of the voices, causing Dena's curiosity get the best of her and convincing her to creep over to listen.

A sudden sigh from behind the reactor, then a voice. Connor's voice. "No, I didn't..." he said. "But apparently she recognized me." Yukiro's voice, sounding concerned. "From where, though...?" Then, "You don't think..." "I do..." Connor cut off. "Where else could she have come from?"

"But how did he find us..?" Before Connor could answer, Yukiro's voice continued. "Damn it... We're definitely leaving this place. I'm not going to let them take you away again." Yukiro sighed. "In the meantime, we-" Suddenly, "Fire." A trail of flames suddenly raced at Dena, and then suddenly jerked sharply off to the side and into the forest at the last second.

Dena fell to the ground with a cry when she saw the fire coming right for her, the flames reflected in her eyes; the trail suddenly shifted course at the last second. Some of the flames still coming close enough to singe the hair on Dena's left arm. Dena sat there on the ground gripping her arm, she could still feel the heat of the flames. She sat there trembling slightly, she knew that Yukiro would never attack her but...it was still terrifying. What caused the flame in the first place?

Vincent ran over to her, then reached for his gun and stopped to see Yukiro, who looked just as ready for an attack. He blinked, and then let out a slight sigh. "Sorry about that. Thought you were another one of those people after Connor..." he muttered. He frowned. "Are you alright?"

Dena nodded slightly, "yea...you just really scared me." She said slowly, she rubbed her left arm; it tingled almost painfully, but what do you expect when you almost got burned.

Yukiro let out a slight sigh, smiling weakly. "This is the first time I think I'm grateful about my short attention span..." he said. He looked over to where the fire swerved, hoping that he hadn't caused a forest fire of any sort, and then seemed relieved that no real damage had been done. He looked over toward behind the reactor. "Connor, it's alright. It's just Dena and Vincent..." he said.

Connor walked around the side of the reactor, his face looked guilty; he had heard Dena cry out. "I'm sorry." He said and Dena smiled faintly. "It's alright." She said, she then looked at Yukiro. "But I heard ya'll talking...are you really leaving?" She asked as Vincent helped her up, he glanced at her arm to make sure she was okay.

Yukiro's expression became grim. "We're going to have to..." he replied. "Our worst enemy knows where we are now, and we honestly don't have very good means of defending ourselves in comparison."

"So...you've encountered them before." Vincent said as he placed his gun in his holster, he thought the boys were hiding something. "...Yes..." Yukiro replied quietly. "One could say that." Dena raised an eyebrow. "...Old friend, old rival..." she supplied, hoping to get more than that. "...Old father..." Yukiro said.

Dena sighed sadly, "So that's what Connor meant earlier about not wanting parents..." She said, "So you're just going to leave...no good byes...anything?" She asked. "You can come with us if you wish to..." Yukiro said. "Though I have to warn you that the living conditions may only end up becoming more difficult..."

Dena smiled slightly, "I wouldn't mind...and I'm sure Kaori wouldn't have a problem with it." She said, she then grew slightly serious. " But...how long do you think we have?" She asked. Yukiro blinked. "Before leaving..?" he asked, Dena nodded.

Yukiro frowned. "Well, to be honest, we'll have to leave as soon as we possibly can. Who knows when that woman will show up again, or someone or even some ones much worse?" Dena paused for a moment and looked at the two brothers, " I have a question and it would be best if you answered...Why does your father want you so badly?" She asked.

The two frowned, seeming to exchange glances. Yukiro then looked back at Dena as Connor's head lowered. "Our father...kidnapped Connor a few years ago," he said. "He was used in experiments and eventually gained the ability to manipulate nitrogen and freeze things on his own. I managed to get him out a couple of years back and we've been hiding here ever since."

Dena felt her heart go out for the two boys; she paused for a moment before slowly walking over to the two brothers. Yukiro flinched and closed his eyes, he was almost sure that she could yell at them for lying to her and her friend; he was caught completely off guard when he felt her slender arms wrap around him. "I'll do everything in my power to help." She said as she released Yukiro and hugged Connor whose eyes widened in surprise. "I promise." She said.

The brothers seemed relieved that their new friends wanted to help them out now. But they were concerned...they didn't want to put anyone else in danger because of them. Both seemed to have a question unspoken, until Connor finally decided to ask it. "...Are you sure...?" Dena playfully poked him on the forehead, "Of course I'm sure...I never go back on my word." She said.

Connor smiled faintly. "Alright, then... Be ready to leave by tomorrow night." He nodded. Dena turned her head toward the sky, it was still dark but she could feel morning was fast approaching. "Okay...so we have a little more than 12 hours to get ready...no problem. Kaori and I have something to check out as soon as it becomes light...Do you want us to meet up here once we're though getting ready?" She asked.

Yukiro paused in thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No..." he replied. "No, it's too dangerous to get here. Plus, it's in the opposite direction of where we're headed. Let's meet up at the edge of town." Dena nodded, "Sounds like a plan..." she said as she smiled, they all went back inside to get some more rest before the night was over.

Next Day- ShinRa Mansion

Kaori stretched and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of one of her eyes. "So...tell me again why we're here...? And so early in the morning..."

" I just have a feeling." Dena said as she pulled open the front door, she took Kaori over to the room where she had found the picture frame. "See...this was what I was looking at when I had that vision." she said as she gently picked up the broken picture frame being careful of the glass, she handed it to Kaori. "This is the lady I was calling out to..." She said pointing to the woman on the right.

Kaori raised an eyebrow, still looking a little sleepy. "Wow, looks a lot like you..." she commented.

"I know...That's why I think that there is something else here." Dena said as she was handed the picture frame back, she gently slid the old picture from its confines; she was going to keep it...she just felt that it was the right thing to do.

"Like what?" Kaori wondered, looking around. "I don't think I see anything that looks too relevant to...well, anything that's going on."

Dena sighed, obviously frustrated. 'I don't know...just pick a place and look!" She said, she growled and walked out of the room. "I'm going to check in the next room." She said, she walked to the next door down on the hallway. She grabbed the knob and went to turn it only to find that it was stuck fast, Dena blinked. "It's locked..." She said out loud. She stuck her head back in the room where Kaori was looking threw the dresser drawers. "Hey...this next room is locked. I need some help." She said.

Kaori blinked. "Okay." Kaori responded, she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her knees. Kaori tried jiggling the knob only to find that it was indeed locked, "That's strange..." Kaori said out loud, she looked around to see if there was anything she could use to pick the lock. She looked up at the top of the door frame, she saw something bronze peeking over the corner, 'It couldn't be that easy...' Kaori thought as she sweatdropped, "Hey, Dena...help me up." Kaori ordered, her friend blinked. Dena took a wide stance and laced her fingers together to form a foot hold, Kaori stepped into her friend's hands and reached up.

Dena sweatdropped as she felt the full weight of her friend, "Are...you sure...you lost...those thirteen pounds!" She ground out as her friend reached up and grabbed what ever was on the top of the door frame.

Her friend hit her over the head with her fist, "YES." She snapped, she brushed the thick dust off of the tiny object, it was indeed the key. "In fact, I lost over thirteen pounds..." Kaori shot back. "Started off at 158. Now I'm at what...127? Thirteen pounds is what I lost before all of this..." she said. "So that's not adding in the amount of time that passed of how long we went without food while in the test tubes..."

Dena stuck her tongue out at her friend, "Geeze...just kidding." She humphed as her friend handed her the key since she was closer to the door knob. It slid in easily enough and unlocked with a faint click, Dena paused for a moment before opening it. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat...

It was a medium sized room, larger than the one next door. On one side there was a bed and dresser, just like a normal room...but on the other side...there was a chest with toys littered around it. A small table sat beside the wall, on it sat a little box of crayons and pieces of paper.

Several drawn pictures hung from the wall, held on with thumb-tacks; the paper had turned yellow with age and the colors of the crayons had faded. Dena was drawn over to the table, she crouched down and picked up a piece of paper with a drawing only half finished...She blinked...

_ She gripped the crayon awkwardly in her tiny hands as she doodled; she was making a drawing for her mommy. The bright colors on the page jumped out at her, "You're weally going to wike it mama..." She said as she looked over at her mommy who was sitting on the edge of her bed, writing in her diary. "Of course I will...and then we can put it on the wall." Her mother said as she closed her diary and placed it in the top draw of the dresser._

Dena blinked, the vision gone. 'Why did I not finish it?' Dena asked herself, she saw Kaori over by the dresser looking at the dust covered photos. Remembering her mother's diary she walked over and opened the drawer from the memory; there it sat in its own layer of dust.

Kaori blinked, "What did you find?" She asked as she looked at her friend, Dena solemnly picked up the old diary; the cover was a hard back, it was tattered around the edges with age. Dena slowly opened the tiny book; on the first page it had the name Kori Crescent.

"My mother's diary..." Dena trailed off, she slowly turned the pages that were yellow with age; she stared at the beautiful flowing script. She skipped several large chunks of diary trying to get to the end, "I need to find out what happened..." Dena said as turned a page, something slipped from between two pages and fluttered to the floor. Kaori blinked and picked it up, it looked like a newspaper clipping; Kaori's face grew serious.

"This." She whispered as she handed it to Dena. She turned the news paper clipping over in her hands; in clear black letters it said 'Scientist Killed in Lab Accident, Child Missing.'

Kaori frowned slightly, then looked up and over at Dena. "So you're from this world...?" she asked. "Then...I wonder what the deal is with me..." Kaori glanced off to the side, and then looked up fully, a frown on her face. "We need to find a back door..."

Dena blinked, "What do you mean?" She asked before slipping the photo in the diary and placing them both in her pocket, "Why don't we leave the way we came?"

"Somebody's right outside the way we came, and it's nobody that we know..." Dena's face went grim, "Are you sure?" She asked. "Yeah. Saw them through the window," Kaori said, walking out of the room and stopping around the corner to peek out at the front door.

Dena peeked out around her friend, her eyes narrowed when she saw four men stepping inside the front foyer, they all wore a type of military type outfit; each had a handgun in their grasps or possession. "Do you think their looking for Connor and Yukiro?" Dena whispered.

"I doubt they'd be looking for us..." Kaori whispered back. "Either way, we can't get out of here while they're standing there with guns..." Kaori took a step down the hall when her eyes suddenly widened. "...Shit." There was a loud, splitting crack...and then... "AAAAHHH!" the two girls shouted as the fell through the rotted wood with a crash.

Dena coughed as the thick dust invaded her lungs; she could feel a body up under her. "Stupid." She groaned, she suddenly cried out as she felt someone roughly grab a handful of her hair and pulled her up. They also pulled Kaori up to her feet, both girls struggled "Let us go!" Dena said as she struggled, she suddenly relaxed; the man thinking that she had given up loosened his grip on her hair to get a better grip on her shoulder.

Dena snarled as she spun around as soon as she felt his grip loosen, she performed the first karate move that she had ever learned; Dena slammed the side of hand against the bridge of the man's nose, there was the sound of the brittle bones breaking. The man howled as his head snapped back from the blow, his cries halted when Dena's hand suddenly came up and hit the bottom of his nose; his eyes rolled back in to his head and he fell to the ground in a motionless heap. Dena saw Kaori performing her own grappling techniques, as soon as they felt no hands on them; the girls broke out in to a run toward the back of the mansion.

"Run like hellll!" Kaori shouted as they ran out of the mansion. They turned, running off into the woods. Dena sweatdropped. "So...why are we running /away/ from help..?"

"Because they're after help!" Kaori replied.

"...I would think so..."

"After /our/ help!"

"Ah."

Gunshots suddenly rang out through the silence of the valley; bullets breezed past the girls and buried themselves in to the trees ahead. Dena winced when she felt one glaze her left arm and right leg, her foot caught a rock and she fell crashing to the ground.

Kaori slid to a stop and ran back toward her friend to scrambled to regain her footing, she suddenly saw someone off to her left; she wasn't fast enough to stop a blow to her head with the butt of a gun. She fell to the ground with a crash and was almost instantly restrained along with Dena.

"Oi! Leggo!" Kaori shouted, squirming and struggling from the soldiers' grasp.

"Can't," said one of the soldiers.

"Why not!"

"...Because I don't have your Ego." (A/N: O.o ) (J/N: ; I had to )

Kaori stared at the soldier for a long moment. "...Okay...you're a moron...and I will smite you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes! Yes I will! So be ready to be smote...smitened...smited..." Kaori sweatdropped, looking over at Dena as she temporarily forgot that 'smite' was supposed to be 'smitten'. "Oi, Dena! What's the past-tense word for 'smite'?"

Dena blinked and was about to say something when someone stepped in to her line of vision, she looked up in to the face of a soldier; he was smiling, not in the reassuring way. "You're in a bit of trouble; you know...you just killed one of my comrades..." He said as he grabbed her roughly by her chin, she glared at him. "Stop glaring, bitch." He hissed as his fist connected with her jaw, her head snapped to the side.

She still stubbornly stared at him though the corner of her eye, "Smitten..." She said, "Is the word you were looking for, Kaori..." She said as she turned her head and spit the tiny amount of blood out of her mouth.

Kaori looked around, and then suddenly smirked slightly. "Yeah, about that... DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" she shouted in a war cry, picking up a stick that she had found on the ground and poking the guy holding her hostage in the eye which left him screaming on the ground, then starting to bash the soldier that had Dena over the head.

Dena felt her captor's grip leave her as he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, away the two girls were off again; one of the soldier's raised his gun toward the retreating backs of the girls, his finger began to pull the trigger. A hand suddenly appeared and stopped him, "No...Follow them. See where they lead..." Star said as she crossed her arms and watched as the girl's disappeared though the line of trees.

**Okay...weird chapter. What will happen in the woods? What will Dena find out from her mother's diary later on? So many questions have yet to be answered...The randomness will continue in the next chapter...**


	5. Does someone have something against us?

**Here's Chapter FIVE! Yahoo…**

**FF characters-not mine**

Dena felt her captor's grip leave her as he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, away the two girls were off again; one of the soldier's raised his gun toward the retreating backs of the girls, his finger began to pull the trigger. A hand suddenly appeared and stopped him, "No...Follow them. See where they lead..." Star said as she crossed her arms and watched as the girl's disappeared though the line of trees.

Dena fell panting against a nearby tree, she had never run that hard from anything before in her life. Her chest and legs screamed for rest, especially her right leg; she glanced down and saw where the bullet had grazed her. It oozed blood down her calf and on to the ground, "Damn it..." Dena said as she gingerly touched her leg, it hurt even more now since she had looked at it.

Kaori sat down on a rock, wincing slightly as she tried to catch her breath, rubbing a spot on her head just between each ear. Stamina was never really her thing... Not to mention that whenever she did try doing a lot of strenuous work for long periods of time (generally something like this), those spots on her head would start throbbing... "Owwie..." she muttered.

Dena sat on the ground and took her skirt in her hands; she took a corner in her teeth and pulled. The old fabric ripped easily, she tore a long enough piece to wrap around her calf several times. "We need to hide." Dena said as she winced as she began to bandage her leg, the worst part was tying the knot. Kaori looked in her direction and blinked, "How are we going to do that?" She asked, Dena stood up and tested her weight. "Follow me." She said as she walked back the way that they had just came from, Kaori grabbed her arm.

"What in the hell are you doing?" She snapped, Dena pointed to the ground where her blood stood out sharply against the green grass. "We're going to make it look like the trail just disappeared." She replied.

"Remember when we watched that fox documentary a couple years ago? Foxes would back track to throw off their pursuers." Dena explained, Kaori blinked. "You remember things to easily..." She said, Dena shrugged. "I told you that I'm a sponge for useless information." She said as she walked over to a tall tree, the lowest branch was just beyond her fingertips; it would have to do. "Come on." She said. Kaori sighed and climbed in to the tree with Dena's help.

Dena jumped slightly and grabbed the branch in her hands, she swung her feet and was able to grab another branch with her legs; she winced when the bark rubbed her wounds painfully, she used the branches to maneuver her way in to the tree. They both climbed a bit higher until they felt comfortable in the high branches and thick foliage.

"Why did I even watch that documentary? I'm a sci-fi channel otaku, not an animal planet otaku..." Kaori wondered randomly. Looking down at the ground below, she then asked, "So, what's the plan? We just sit up here and wait like some radioactive rabid ninja squirrels?"

Dena resisted the urge to push her friend out of the tree, "We'll hide up here...hopefully the soldiers will continue in the direction that we were going and completely by-pass us. If not...then at least we'll give the other some time..." She said.

Kaori nodded. "Ah..." She peered out, scanning the ground below. "You know, this totally reminds me of SOLAR..."

Dena sighed and rested her head against the tree trunk, "Sure...what ever you say." Dena replied, she had never been able to go to SOLAR; just never really went. She turned to look at her friend, "How's your head?" She asked, she had seen her take the blow from the soldier from before.

"Meh...it's been better..." Kaori muttered. "Can't say that I haven't had worse, though-I /did/ grow up in the same house as Elena, after all..."

Dena chuckled but shut up when she heard the sound of leaves crunching under foot, she peered down though the thick leaves; she caught sight of four soldiers. They all walked with their guns at the read, one would occasionally bend down and look at the ground; Dena frowned and hoped that they wouldn't discover their hiding place.

"...Totally tempted to throw a spell packet down at one of them yelling 'I envelop you in mists of sleep..." Kaori uttered under her breath as the soldiers headed off deeper into the woods. Thankfully, nobody seemed to notice them. She looked back over at Dena when it seemed that all was clear. "We head back now?"

Dena nodded and the two jumped down from the tree, making their way back toward town with sneaky ninja of the nightness.

Meanwhile

Cloud watched as the girls left shortly after breakfast, he was slightly surprised at how little they ate; of course, it was his place to criticize them. "I wonder where they are headed." He said out loud, Vincent glanced in his direction. "Dena mentioned something about it earlier..." He replied.

The time seemed to pass quickly, Vincent occupied himself with cleaning his Cerberus; most of the others had left to gather supplies. Everyone had agreed that they couldn't leave Yukiro, Connor, and the girls to fend by themselves when the boys' father was after them. The entire valley was silent when the silence was interrupted by a barrage of gunfire echoed from ShinRa Manor. Vincent jumped up to his feet, Cloud ran over. "You did hear that...right?" The blonde asked, Vincent's eyes narrowed in the direction of the manor.

"Hn..." Vincent said as he holstered Cerberus. Within moments they were at the Manor's front foyer, they could see several large prints in the thick dust; Vincent bent down to examine them further. "Soldier boots." He concluded as he stood up, they saw where a body of a soldier lay.

Cloud hurried after Vincent, the worst-case scenarios spinning through his mind. Looking down at the footprints, he nodded, then frowned and looked around. "But you'd think somebody would've noticed soldiers running around the town a little earlier..."

"You would think..." Vincent said as he walked over to where the soldier's body lay; Cloud couldn't help but wince at how the man died. The ground showed that the girls had been able to get away after a brief struggle, "At least the girls know how to defend themselves to some point." Cloud said as Vincent and he raced outside.

Both of their eyes narrowed when they saw the bullet holes in the trees and blood spots on the ground. "Do you think that they're alright?" Cloud asked as Vincent bent down and touched one of the spots of blood; it came away on to his fingers, still fresh. "There's not enough blood on the ground to indicate a major wound." Vincent replied.

Cloud nodded in agreement. "Good point... And it's not as if we're coming up with corpses..." he noted, heading into the forest by following the trail. "Still though, they may need help..."

Dena limped every time she took a step, her leg was really hurting by this point; all the adrenaline in her system had now disappeared and she was feeling everything. The glaze on her arm stung but it was nothing, Dena sighed and placed a hand on a nearby tree trunk. "Hold on a moment..." She said as she bent down to re-do her makeshift bandage, it had come loose and her wound had partially re-opened.

Kaori nodded and took a seat at the bottom of a nearby tree, "Are you going to be alright?" She asked, Dena nodded. "Yea...as soon as I can get to a first aid-kit the better. I really need to wash my leg out." She said, she winced as she re-did the knot. She stood up but favored her right leg, "We need to keep on moving." She said.

"Dangit, woman. You really need to quit getting hurt. I am not a medic or a healer! ...I'm not even one at Solar. Because healers are all wusses and can only call about one or two points of damage in role-plays unless! They know how to use their spell column...and I can't remember spell verbals for the life of me," Kaori said as she stood. She then looked around. "Though you know...the guys are going to be coming to look for all of us anyway. I mean, with the gunshots and all? They'll definitely come running... And we've outwitted the soldiers anyway, so...yeah..."

Dena sweatdropped at her friend's sudden rant, "Sorry..."

"Sorry? Sorry!" Kaori said. She then grinned. "Nah, 'salright. Just quit gettin hurt and stuff..." She plopped back down on her rock. "But yeah. Sit back, relax, and watch the radioactive rabid squirrels."

Dena smiled, "Hey...can't I have a blonde moment just once?" Dena said as she tried to pout, but she couldn't do it; her smile made it too hard. "Well...if the guys are coming after us then let's try to meet them as quickly as possible. There's a chance that the soldier's might double back to see if they missed us." She said as she started walking again, the limp had gotten better from those few moments of rest.

Kaori stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes, "Alright." She sighed, she started walking beside her friend; she looked up and blinked. "Hey...someone's coming this way." Kaori said as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "It might be some more soldiers..." She hissed, Dena frowned and nodded. "Quickly...behind a tree." She said as they ran off the path.

The girls hid behind a tree in wait. Seeing that it was Cloud and Vincent however, Kaori glanced around, then reached down and picked up a small pebble, tossing it gently at open of them. "I envelop you in mists of sleep!"

Dena suddenly had the gigantic urge to toss Kaori over the nearest cliff and see if she could fly, she settled for just hitting her over the head. "You're so stupid." She said as she walked from around the tree, Vincent and Cloud just blinked in confusion. "Hi guys." Dena greeted, she looked over at Kaori who glared at her and shot a bird in her direction; Dena sweatdropped.

"I'm not stupid, I'm a geek, and proud of it!" Kaori said. She then thought for a moment. "Then again, in one respect, I guess you do have a point: I'm a fighter, not a spell-caster, and for good reason. Did you see how that didn't work? I suck at spells..."

Dena sighed and shook her head, once Kaori was on the subject of SOLAR, it was hard to shut her up. "Kaori." Dena whined, "Enough already." Kaori stuck her tongue out at Dena. "No way."

Dena threw her hands up in exasperation, "I give up!" She said as she started walking back down the path toward the manor, Vincent evidently noticed her limp. She felt a hand on her shoulder; she turned around expecting to see Kaori but blinked when red eyes caught her gaze. "Huh?"

"You're hurt." He stated rather than ask, he wasn't blind and could plainly see the bloodstains on her clothes and hands. When she turned her head to look at him he was greeted by a developing bruise on the left side of her jaw.

Dena shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, "They just managed to graze me...It's no big deal once I get them cleaned." She whispered, she had never had him this close to her; not counting the time when she almost got fried by Yukiro. "I'm okay...seriously. I just need to get them cleaned and get some pain relievers. That's all." Dena said as she gently touched his hand, a sign for him to release her.

She took a step and was surprised when a sudden weight left her pocket and fell to the ground. The diary landed on the ground with a light thunk, Dena winced when she heard the sound it made as it hit; she went to pick it up but Vincent was quicker. Vincent raised an eyebrow, and then slipped the diary into his pocket, looking over at Dena and studying her for a moment. There was a long pause...then a sudden sigh as he picked her up and began carrying her back towards town.

Dena blinked as he pocketed HER mother's diary, she opened her mouth to ask for it back only to feel his arms wrap around her waist and throw her over his shoulder. "What in the hell do you think you're doing!" She yelped as he did so.

"The soldiers will be returning soon; we don't have time for you to be walking all the way back with a limp. ...And besides all of that, it isn't healthy." He replied.

Dena growled lightly in her throat, she shut up because she couldn't fight the logic and she knew she would get no where fighting with him. Kaori and Cloud walked behind them back to town, Kaori smiled when she saw a slight tinge of pink on Dena's cheeks; Dena glared and flicked Kaori off. Cloud blinked, "You have a strange friend." He said.

"You have no idea." Both girls replied. Kaori grinned slightly. "Heh... Well, I think we can all agree on that, at least..."

Dena was silent for a few minutes before she shifted slightly in Vincent's grasp and poked him in the shoulder, "As soon as you let me down...I want my diary back."

"...Maybe."

Dena's face twisted slightly in aggravation, "No...Not maybe." She said, she kept her voice soft which was a bad sign as Kaori knew. "It was my mothers...and I want it back." She said, Vincent turned his head slightly to look at her.

He paused for a moment, and then shrugged. "I suppose, then..."

Dena nodded and relaxed, she didn't realize that she had tensed up so much. She looked back at Kaori and Cloud who were walking silently, Kaori had a bit of a blush on her face. 'He's cute.' Dena mouthed, Kaori's eyes went wide slightly and the blush seemed to deepen. 'Shut up!' Kaori mouthed her reply.

Cloud just blinked, he couldn't read lips very well. "Something wrong?" He asked which caused Kaori to blush more, shaking her head. "No! Nothing!" she replied quickly.

Dena had to cover her mouth with her hands to stop from laughing, Vincent shook his head; these girls were weird. How could that Dena girl suddenly find a diary and claim it was her mother's? And in ShinRa Manor, no less...

Kaori looked around, spying a pebble, then picking it up off the ground and tossing it at Dena. "I command you to be mute..."

Dena stuck out her tongue, "Nya...If only." She said, she blinked when the tiny group was enveloped in shadows. She turned her head to see the ShinRa Manor, they walked though the manor; Vincent felt Dena stiffen in his grasp once they entered the front foyer. Cloud blinked when he saw Dena turn her head away from the area where the soldier lay, "So...it was you." He whispered, he felt guilty when he saw several emotions flash across her eyes. "Yea...not something I'm really proud of." She whispered.

Kaori frowned at the soldier, then looked around and finally turned to Cloud. "...Why are we here?"

Vincent set Dena down on the stairs for a moment, as it was probably a better place to check injuries at the current time. He glanced over at Cloud and Kaori, telling them to watch the entrance, then studied Dena's wound. Before he knew it, he blurted out, "So...how did your mother's diary get here?"

Dena shifted uncomfortably, "I don't know...I think we lived here...But that was obviously a long time ago considering all the dust that's here. I only remember little flash backs..." Dena said before she winced when Vincent's fingers started undoing the makeshift bandage.

Vincent frowned. "But the only people that have lived here for years were Lucrecia and Hojo..."

Dena blinked, "Lucrecia..." She whispered, something was there...she could feel it. "What was her last name?" She asked.

"Crescent." He replied.

"Let me see the diary." Dena said as she outstretched her hand, Vincent paused momentarily before placing the tiny book in her hands. She opened the diary to the first page; there...sure enough in clear letters the diary said Kori Crescent. "She was my aunt." Dena whispered.

Vincent blinked, surprised. He never even knew that Lucrecia /had/ a sister, much less a niece...and if this girl was Lucrecia's niece, then how did she look so young? It couldn't be entirely because of the test tubes...could it? "Hm...Doesn't make much sense, and yet at the same time..." he started.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"How long were you in the test tube again..?"

"A year maybe..."

"If you were born back then, you would probably be a lot older..."

Dena couldn't hold his gaze, "There is something you should know..." She said as she slipped the newspaper clipping from the diary's pages, " I didn't grow up here...For reasons and circumstances unknown...I grew up in another world and was 'transported' back a year ago with Kaori...roughly the time Sephiroth tried to destroy the planet...or so you say." She said as she handed the clipping to Vincent.

Vincent frowned, reading over it. Thinking about this for several moments, he muttered, "Hm...I wonder..." He paused. "The lifestream circulates... I'm starting to wonder if it circulates around more than one world..."

Dena held her head in her hands, "This all seems so confusing... I only learned of this yesterday and earlier today. My brain can't wrap around it all..." She said as she was handed the clipping back only for the photo to slip out and land next to Vincent's hand. He gently picked it up, he blinked; there was the photo with Kori and Lucrecia...and a very young Dena.

Vincent studied it for a moment, and then looked up at Dena. "Well I'm sure it's all tied into what's currently going on... The others and I will try to see what we can find out." He nodded.

Dena smiled slightly as he handed the photo back to her, "Thank you." She said as she slipped it in the diary once again.

Vincent nodded. "We should head out now," he said. "I think we've stayed here long enough, and if the brothers wait for us much longer, then they'll probably get caught..." he said. He looked down at Dena. "Can you walk..?"

Dena blinked and stood up, she tested her leg. "Yea...I'll be fine so long as I don't have to do any sprints." She said as she took a second to brush the layer of dust off of her skirt; she really needed to get some more clothes because these that she took from her aunt's room had almost had enough.

Vincent nodded-if she started limping again, he'd carry her. But until then... He looked over at the others. "Cloud, Kaori-you two ready to go?"

Kaori nodded. "Been ready..." Cloud nodded, "It's best that we hurry...The soldiers should be doubling back about now. We don't have long to get out of here...safely." He added.

The group headed out to the edge of town. Vincent looked around as they reached an alleyway, glancing over toward the shadows. "Yukiro, Connor?"

Yukiro and Connor emerged from the shadow's embrace, Connor's nose twitched a bit when the breeze shifted a bit. "Blood?" He asked as he turned his head toward the group, Dena coughed slightly.

"That would be me." She said, Connor's and Yukiro's eyes widened a bit. Yukiro finally noticed the dried blood on her left arm and right leg.

Yukiro hurried forward. "Are you alright..?" he asked, looking worried. Dena smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry...we escaped with minimal damage. They had an advantage only because they had guns..." Dena said, Yukiro nearly gagged. "They shot at you!"

Connor frowned. "I'm sorry that you're getting dragged into all of this..." he muttered.

Dena frowned, "Don't start." She said, "We dragged ourselves in to this. Don't beat yourself up about us...that won't help anything." She said.

"Yeah. No use crying over spilled juice," Kaori agreed with a nod. Yukiro raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean spilled milk..?" Kaori stuck her tongue out at him. "I wouldn't cry over spilled milk! Milk's nasty..."

Dena smiled and shook her head, "No use arguing with her...she's stubborn as a bull." Dena looked over at Yukiro, "Where are the others?" She asked. "Stubborn as my mom..." Kaori corrected, rolling her eyes.

"They should be here soon..." Yukiro replied. "If Yuffie overslept, that wouldn't surprise me. The others will probably be a bit late just from trying to find one another..." Vincent pointed out.

Dena frowned slightly, "We shouldn't waste time...the soldiers found us at the Manor. No doubt they notified their superiors and they are out looking for the guys." She said as she crossed her arms. "I'm surprised that we didn't run in to any on the way back here."

Connor shook his head. "Well, I don't think there's any around here-at least not yet. I've been listening all morning and I haven't heard anyone..." "Nor have I seen anyone..." Yukiro added.

Cloud frowned, "Something's not right. There should be more than the ones at the Manor." He said as he bowed his head in thought. "What about the girl from before? I doubt that she would give up after one failed attempt to retrieve Connor..."

"She's the one we're most concerned about, and I doubt we'll be noticing her as easily. We should head on out and let the others meet up with us later," Yukiro replied.

The silence of the moment was interrupted by a catchy jingle, Dena and Kaori blinked. "Who's cell phone?" Kaori asked, everyone looked at each other until they all landed on Cloud. The blonde blinked and realized the jingle was coming from him. He quickly opened it and answered, "Hello? ...Oh okay...that'll be no problem...alright...okay...Bye." He said, he flipped the phone shut. "That was Tifa. They decided to go ahead and meet up with Cid at the airship. They're going to pick us up on the edge of town." Cloud said.

Dena and Kaori blinked, "Airship?" Kaori asked, Cloud frowned. "You've never been on an airship?" He asked. "Um...I have!" Kaori said. She then sweatdropped. "That is, if you mean planes..." It was Cloud's turn to blink, "Plane?" Kaori sweatdropped further. "...Guess not..."

Dena sighed, "Let's just go..." She said as she made the shooing motion with her hands. She did not want this to turn in to the 'have to explain everything different from world to world' conversation that appeared in almost every single fanfic.

Kaori nodded. "Good point..." she agreed. She then smiled up at Cloud. "I'll tell you about it later." Dena sweatdropped, "Try not to confuse the poor boy...after all. He is blonde."

"...Good point...and I'm a redhead so I don't have much patience anyway..." Kaori agreed, nodding. She then blinked, glancing over at Yukiro. "Random thought..." she spoke up as they headed across the field separating town from the airship. "What would people with white hair be considered as? Albino..?"

"Albino is white hair, white skin, and red eyes." Yukiro said slowly, "I have blue eyes."

"Not exactly. In some rare cases, albinos can have light blue eyes about your color," Kaori corrected. "...Trust me. Waaay too many people chose albinism for their genetic disorder projects in biology. I was actually original and chose ADD and ADHD..."

"Now /that/ I definitely have..." Yukiro muttered sweatdropping. "Are you guy's coming?" Dena shouted, Yukiro and Kaori blinked and looked around. Dena, Vincent, and Connor were already half way down the street...when did they do that?

Yukiro sweatdropped, flailing a little. "O-oi...wait up!" he called as he and Kaori hurried and followed.

The group made it across the field, looking up at the airship. Kaori blinked sweatdropping. "...Holy crap..."

Dena had a similar reaction; she stared at the giant ship with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. "Wow..." She whispered, she realized that she was staring and stopped. "Well...come lets go." Yukiro said as he grabbed Connor's hand and starting pulling him toward the airship. "Brother slow down!" Connor pleaded, Dena smiled and brushed a piece of stray hair behind her ear; a sudden glimmer in the bushes caught her eye...her heart almost seemed to stop beating. Something fast shot in her direction…

**It's now time to review! Thankie...**


	6. What's with all the ice?

**Okie…Here's Chapter 6. Sorry it took so long.**

The group made it across the field, looking up at the airship. Kaori blinked sweatdropping. "...Holy crap..."

Dena had a similar reaction; she stared at the giant ship with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. "Wow..." She whispered. She realized that she was staring and stopped.

"Well...come lets go," Yukiro said as he grabbed Connor's hand and starting pulling him toward the airship.

"Brother slow down!" Connor pleaded.

Dena smiled and brushed a piece of stray hair behind her ear. A sudden glimmer in the bushes caught her eye...and her heart almost seemed to stop beating.

A shuriken suddenly whipped through the air, straight at them. Vincent jumped in front of her, raising his left arm as a 'clang' rang out. The shuriken dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Dena gasped when the shuriken fell to the ground. She was initially worried about Vincent but when he showed no sign of pain she was relieved. Everyone seemed to freeze where they were, not knowing whether to run or stay. "What are you doing?" Dena shouted, "Get Connor on to the ship!"

"A metal arm... How un-expected..." a voice said as the dust randomly blew up and then away like it normally does in animes, revealing a tall thin man with black pants and a dark green shirt, as well as something.../_something_, since it was difficult to identify in its position...black, folded on his back. His eyes were a dark sky blue, and his hair was a light blonde color, spiky towards the top but pulled back into a long, flowing ponytail.

Yukiro frowned and nodded, pulling Connor up the ramp and onto the airship. Kaori blinked and then dramatically pointed at him. "Who are YOU!" She shouted.

The moment ruined for the new stranger, he sweatdropped and pouted. "Hey...you ruined my entrance."

"...Bad guys aren't allowed cool entrances," Kaori replied, sticking her tongue out at the man. "At least, not when I'm around. NOW TALK! Who are you and who are you working for! The FBI, the CIA-or, are you here to drag us all off to Area 51!" ...The conspiracy nut...

The newcomer sweatdropped at the girl. "...Um...Area 51..." he said.

"I knew it!"

Dena grabbed her friend by the arm. "Let's go... Stop egging the man on," she said as she started pulling Kaori toward the air ship. Cloud and Vincent squared off with the newcomer.

"But...but..." Kaori started, flailing a little. "What about the guys..! It's not like they can sprout wings and fly off..!"

"They can fight...we'll only end up getting in the way!" Dena said.

"But...but...!" Kaori sighed. "...Hokay..." She said as the two arrived at the ramp and proceeded to go up it.

"Don't quite think so..." the newcomer said, smiling cheerfully...a little too cheerfully. Especially for a villain... And soon it was seen why. A gust of wind suddenly shot past Kaori, hitting Dena and knocking her back off the ramp, but...almost cradling her in a pocket of air so that she didn't hit the ground and hurt herself.

Dena cried out as she felt the wind hit her and knock her off the ramp, Kaori's hand ripped from her grasp. "Let me go damn it!" She said as she struggled against the mass of air that cushioned her fall. The newcomer suddenly disappeared from his place in front of Vincent and appeared behind Dena, who was finally able to regain her footing. The folded black things had now been outstretched…into /_wings_/…

"That mouth is very unladylike," he said as he grabbed Dena from behind, effectively pinning her arms against her chest.

She growled and thrashed in his grip. "Bite me." She snarled. Vincent immediately upholstered Cerberus.

"I just might," the newcomer chuckled. Dena's face went red; she exploded.

"I have had enough of men thinking they could touch me any way they please. I AM NOT A GODDAMN DOLL," she said as she thrashed even harder. She even tried to kick the newcomer in the teabags but the angle was all wrong. "Vincent shoot him...shoot HIM," she snarled.

Vincent's eyes narrowed as he lifted his gun, agreeing whole-heartedly with Dena's suggestion. He took several shots up at the newcomer, but...this guy was a lot more agile than even most birds he had seen in the air, and even more agile than vampyric-looking gunman. He seemed even more adapted to the sky than to the land. So naturally...the bullets missed.

Dena growled and managed to sink her teeth into her kidnapper's wrist. The kidnapper yelped and snatched his wounded arm away, allowing one of Dena's arms to get free. "LET ME GO!" She said as she started knocking the kidnapper upside the head.

They dipped for a moment, and then rose again as the kidnapper shook his wrist. "Geez, what the...?.! ...Don't tell me that you have rabies or something!"

Dena growled as her arm was pinned back down to her side, "I just might," she hissed. "Vincent, just shoot his ass. I don't care how!" She shouted. "Just get me down..." She started trying to kick her kidnapper by this point, and she felt her blows connect with the man's shins…not the best place to get kicked.

Air narrowed his eyes, he took his wounded arm and grabbed her shoulder; she went tense as he pinched a nerve and then went slack in his grasp.

"Dena!" Kaori shouted as she saw her unconscious friend being taken away. Vincent tried to line up a shot but they were too far away by this point and he was afraid that he would hit Dena.

"Damn it," Cloud hissed as he plunged the tip of his sword in to the ground. "Why did he take her?" he fumed.

Kaori noticed something on the ground… It was Dena's diary.

"Probably because he was a freakin' pedo..." Kaori commented as she reached down and picked up the diary, studying it for a moment. She then looked back up at the two. "...Alright, guys. From what I understand, you're from this world and...you know your way around this world. What's the most likely place that the bad guys have set up base?" she demanded, as if this was the easiest question in the world.

Cloud and Vincent looked over at the demanding redhead, both of them clueless. "Midgar, maybe...?" Cloud suggested.

Vincent shook his head. "I doubt it..."

Yuffie ran down the ramp. "Guys! What in the hell happened?" She said as she ran up. She had seen the first part of the episode with the kidnapper and had ran to get her weapons; she had not seen Dena being whisked away.

"Um...Dena got kidnapped," Kaori replied simply. "Didn't you see it? It was like a flying monkey off of the Wizard of Oz coming down to take her away..."

Yuffie blinked. "Flying monkey?" There was a pause. Then… "What?.! Dena got kidnapped!" She screamed.

Kaori frowned. "Is there an echo in this place?" She asked.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Kaori, then rounded on Vincent, frowning. "How could you let Dena get kidnapped by a flying monkey?.! You have a gun!" Vincent glared in Yuffie's direction and the teenager blinked. "Oh...he's pissed," she stated.

"He looked like a monkey! And he acted like a monkey!" Kaori said, ignoring the conflict between Vincent and Yuffie as she tried to make her point. She crossed her arms. "So by /_my_/ book...he was a monkey."

"Well...let's get this bird off the ground, then! Maybe there's still a chance that we can find her!" Yuffie demanded.

"Right," Cloud nodded, he and the others raced on board of the airship. The engines roared to life as it raced in the direction the kidnapper was last seen heading.

Dena groaned as she felt herself come to. Her vision swam but she found herself staring up a pale ceiling. "Damn...my head," she said as she attempted to sit up. As she moved her left arm she heard a rattling sound of chains and sweatdropped. "That's not good," she said as she sat up from her place on the ground, she looked down at her arm and sure enough...there was a manacle and a length of chain attaching it to the wall. The chain and manacle looked extremely new compared to the wall and ceiling.

Outside there was yelling, the voice belonging to Star. "Air, you idiot! That girl wasn't one of the twins!"

"She could've been-" the voice of her kidnapper-apparently named Air-started.

"The twins are boys, not girls! I showed you a /_picture_/ before you even took off!"

"But she-"

"You were thinking with the other head again, weren't you!"

Dena felt her eyes widen. _'My god...I've been kidnapped by a pervert,_' she thought. She took a moment and looked at the manacle...maybe she could slip her hand through it-after all she had done it before in the other world but it had been toy police-cuffs.She only succeded in rubbing her wrist raw.

Watching her kidnapper come through the door with a tray of food, Dena glared in his direction as she attempted to slip her hand through once more. The young man pouted. "Hey...that's no good. You're only going to hurt yourself," he said as he sat the tray off to the side. Dena ignored him as he came closer; he came close enough to talk but far enough as not to get hit.

"Why don't you let me go since I'm obviously the wrong person..." she said.

"Oh? How do you know that?" the kidnapper asked, tilting his head and blinking as he nudged the tray slightly, closer and closer as if to poke her with as if it were a stick. He then added, "And the name's Air, by the way."

"I'm smart and you're not," Dena said simply as she stuck out her foot and effectively stopped the tray's trek toward her. "And I'm not hungry."

Air pouted a little. "Hey... I'm smart!" he said. "And it's decent food-nothing's poisoned or anything!"

"Not hungry...simple as that," she said as she continued to inspect the chain. '_I wonder if I can pull it out of the wall..._' she wondered...maybe the wall was old enough it would crumble if she gave the chain a good jank. If she did, she would then have a weapon to whack the element controlling pervert in front of her with. She gave it a good yank...but luck was just not on her side today.

Air sweatdropped. "And you're saying that /_I'm_/ not smart..? You're trying to pull a /_chain_/ out of a _/concrete_/ wall..."

"At least I didn't kidnap someone that is no use to their organization," she said as she crossed her arms and folded her legs Indian-style.

"...Do you /_want_/ to be of use...?" Air asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"Do you want to choke on your family jewels? If you do...keep it up," she hissed as she glared daggers at him.

"Now that's not very nice..." Air said, tilting his head. "Besides, I don't think you'd manage to do anything like that..."

Dena smirked. "Want to test that theory?"

"...You wouldn't be able to defeat me even if I set you free..."

Dena smiled and waved her hand side to side. "Yeah right...the first shot you hit me with was all luck. I had my back turned..." She said, obviously not impressed.

"It wouldn't matter whether you did or not! Because you see...I'm not human," Air shot back, smirking and jerking a thumb at himself.

"Doesn't matter," she said, "I could still beat you...the incident earlier only showed that you were weak...attacking a girl from behind. You're no better then a common mugger."

Air sweatdropped. "No..." he said. "Whether you saw me or not, I still would've done it... You just happened to have your back turned when I did it..."

Dena stuck her tongue out at him. "Why don't you prove it...show me how strong you are... Show me that I'm wrong... Fight me."

Star meanwhile stood outside the door, sweatdropping as she listened to the conversation. "...Seriously? He'd better not fall for her tricks..." she grumbled.

"Scared to lose to a girl?" Dena smirked, almost had him...

"Of course not! No girl can beat me! ...Except possibly our mother," Air said as he fished out a single silver key. Dena held out her arm so he could unlock the manacle. It opened with a soft click and Dena smirked.

'_Gotcha_ _now_,' she thought, she suddenly grabbed Air's arm and slapped the open manacle around his wrist. He let out a cry and snatched for her as she rolled away with the key. She stood up and twirled the key with her finger. "Never underestimate a woman," she said. Air's face twisted in anger.

"You'll pay for that," he hissed as his eyes glowed. Air exploded from him in a giant wave. The force blew out the window and slammed Dena against the wall on the other side of the room, the key flying from her grasp. Dena lay there stunned for a second before noticing the busted window.

The broken glass cut in to the palm of her hands as she pulled herself through the window. She landed on the ground hard-thankfully they had been on the first floor of the strange shaped building. She heard the door slam open and a female shouting at Air and turned her head to notice a soldier walking from around the corner of the building…he must have come to inspect what had shattered the glass. "Time to go," Dena said as he gave a shout.

She headed down the path, out of the town and through the woods. However, the woods were admittedly confusing-in fact, they seemed endless for some strange reason. Now she was starting to get worried-either she would get caught by the soldiers or lost within the woods. Hearing them behind her, she ducked inside the hollow of a tree, listening as they ran past.

Dena waited for a moment until she thought that it was all clear and slowly poked her head out of the hollow tree. She looked around for a moment before taking a step outside of the tree and suddenly howled as someone grabbed her roughly by her long hair. They yanked her left arm behind her back to a point she thought that it would slip out of joint. "Ow..." She whimpered as the grip tightened on her hair. What was with everybody and grabbing her hair?.!

"Hey! I found her!" the soldier called. "Over here!"

Dena was escorted back to the strange building that she had escaped from not but ten minutes earlier. Inside was a pissed off looking Air and a smirking Star. "Oh, so sorry," Star purred. Dena glared at her as she was lead back in to the room.

"Maybe better luck next time," Star laughed as the manacle was placed on Dena's wrist. They even tightened it, if that was possible. The door slammed shut leaving Dena alone in the room, the cool breeze from outside drifted in through the broken window.

Star then turned back to Air. "You see all the trouble you've caused us?.!" She looked around for a newspaper to roll up to smack him upside the head like a bad puppy dog.

Air pouted. "Sorry..!"

The entrance door suddenly opened, a young boy walking in. But while the boy was young, probably only twelve or so, his eyes were a lot more mature than his appearance made him out to be. "...Am I interrupting something...?"

Star pulled away from the cringing form of Air and lowered the rolled up newspaper. "No...nothing seriously important..." she said as she laid the newspaper on the table.

"...Did you get them?" he asked, looking from one to the other.

Star sweatdropped. "About that..." Air started creeping toward the door. "Genius here...brought us the wrong kid,"

"I'm not a kid, damn it!" a shout was heard from the next room.

Earth sighed, putting a hand on his forehead...and blocking the door. He then looked over at Star. "Star...you can continue beating Air over the head with your newspaper..." he said, shutting the door behind him before walking over to the couch and sitting down.

Star smiled. "With pleasure." She picked up the discarded newspaper, Air cowering in the corner.

"Mercy..." He whimpered.

Dena sighed and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. The sun had begun to set and the temperatures had started to drop; the cool breeze had turned even cooler and Dena started to shiver. She cursed her fantastic luck and rubbed her arms to keep feeling in them.

"Alright, that seems to be the place..." Vincent said, hiding behind a building to look at another lit building nearby.

Yuffie looked around, sitting on the roof of the building. "Hm..." she said, watching as one of the guards turned his back and headed down the street. "Alright, the guard's got his back turned. Go!" she called down quietly to the gunman. Vincent nodded, darting across the road and up into the window of the building.

Dena heard the very faint crunch of feet on the broken glass outside. '_Probably a guard,_' she thought. She had her eyes closed as she huddled to keep herself warm. She was very surprised when she opened her eyes and saw a figure slipping threw the broken window.

Vincent raised an eyebrow, glancing out the window, then back over at Dena. "Well..." he said. "Are you ready to go?"

Dena smiled slightly. "One problem," she whispered as she lifted her left arm. The chain jingled slightly as it moved. Vincent's eyes narrowed.

Vincent reached for his gun, taking aim and firing, breaking the chain off the wall, then whipping over to the door to aim the gun at whoever would come in to check on the noise. The second the door moved, Vincent opened fire with his Griffon. Star's eyes widened, the young woman quickly moving out of the way to duck around the wall.

"Let's go," Vincent said as he grabbed Dena. They both escaped through the window and could both hear shouting from the building, male and female alike. "This way," Vincent said as he pulled Dena quickly through the town. Dena was able to catch sight of Yuffie jumping down from one of the buildings and on to the head of a guard that stood in their path.

"Took you long enough," Yuffie said as she dusted her hands off. She opened her mouth to say something more but the sound of a gunshot shut her up, not to mention making her jump several feet in to the air in surprise.

"Lets head through the caves. If we go through the Bone Village, we'll only be putting the residents there in danger..." Vincent suggested.

Dena shrieked when a bullet blew off a chunk of wall beside her head. "Wherever we're going...let's go before we double our weight in lead," Yuffie said.

Vincent nodded, turning and firing a few rounds at the guards before helping the girls up into the cave. From there, they could travel through the mountain and come out in the fields of snow, close to the Icicle Village up on the mountain.

About an hour later

The group emerged from the cave, Yuffie smiling as she stretched. "Ah! Fresh air, fresh sunshine!" she said cheerfully.

Dena sweatdropped. "It's night." She said. Yuffie spun around on her heel and stuck her tongue out at her. "But it does feel good to be out of that cave..." Dena said. She paused for a moment. "Hey...how did you guys find out where I was?" She asked as they stared traveling away from the cave's entrance.

"Educated guess," Vincent replied simply.

Dena sweatdropped. "It worked out so I'm not going to complain..." she said. She suddenly sank up to her knees in snow. "Never mind," she said.

Yuffie smiled and sweatdropped. "Yeah, it is kinda deep here..." she said. "Heh...the only reason that I'm not sinking in is because I know ancient ninja techniques to help me balance on the snow!"

"...Plus it's not very deep there..." Vincent pointed out, sweatdropping.

"Damn you," Dena said as she fished herself out of the tiny snowdrift. By the time she got out she was freezing. "As soon as we get to the nearest village...I'm getting some appropriate clothes," Dena said as she shivered. It was true: a skirt has no place in the snowy mountains. Dena sighed; there was nothing she or anyone else could do until they got to where they were going. Which by the way...she didn't know. "Hey...where are we heading off to?" Dena asked, as she followed in Yuffie's foot steps since after all, the female ninja was using her 'ancient ninja technique' to find a shallow path in the snow to walk on.

"The Icicle Village. The others should be waiting for us there," Yuffie replied with a nod.

"I'm assuming that you've already called them on the cell phone, then..?" Vincent said, glancing over at her.

Yuffie smiled and sweatdropped. "Nope! ...But when they don't see us coming out of the City of the Ancients, then they'll be able to come to the conclusion that something is up..."

Dena slammed her fist down on Yuffie's head. "You're a moron," Dena shouted.

"Owwie...! H-hey...what was that for...?.!" Yuffie whined. At her explanation, she pouted. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are. Please tell me that you have your cell phone with you," Dena asked as she breathed on to her hands, trying to warn them up; god she hated snow now...

"Um...yeah, I think so..." Yuffie replied, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out her /_white_/ cell phone, only to have it slip from her fingers and land in the snow. "Eheh...oopsie..."

Vincent rolled his eyes and shook his head. He knew it was too good to be true: Yuffie was bound to do something and screw everything up, one way or another.

Yuffie groaned as she shifted through the snow with her bare hands. "Come out, come out where ever you are," Yuffie sang. Dena sighed and started looking too.

She flinched as the snow melted from the heat of her hands and seeped into the cuts on her palms that she had received from the broken glass. She blinked when her fingers brushed against something that was neither snow nor ground-Dena pulled up the snow covered cell phone. "Try not to lose it again."

"Thanks! Now let's just hope it still works..." Yuffie said as she flipped open the cell phone, dialing the number.

Vincent frowned at Dena. "Your hands..." he started.

She blinked and shoved her hands behind her back so he couldn't see. "It's nothing...just a couple of scrapes." She said. Vincent narrowed his eyes.

"...Let me see them..."

Dena struggled with herself for a moment before she sighed and pulled her hands from behind her back. The manacle was no longer on her left arm, all thanks to Yuffie's lock picking skills. The only reason that the others had not seen the cuts on her hands was from the poor light in the caves. "I cut them on the glass from the broken window. It was blown out by Air when I tricked him in to unlocking the chain..." she mumbled as she extended her hands with her palms up so Vincent could inspect the damage.

Vincent frowned, then reached into his pocket, handing her a small vial. "Drink this," he said. "It'll help."

Dena blinked and accepted the vial, she held it close to her face and looked hard at it. "What is this stuff?" She asked.

"A potion..." Vincent replied. He blinked. "They don't sell them back home...?"

Dena shook her head. "We didn't have anything like this...if we ever got hurt then we had to heal naturally. I seriously got hurt in a car accident before I came here...it took a whole four months before I could walk again," Dena said as she gently swirled the vial around, watching the contents swish around. "So...I just drink this stuff? That's it?" she questioned, kind of unsure of how to react to it.

Vincent nodded. "Yes," he replied.

Dena frowned slightly as she popped the top off of the vial-it smelled funny and tasted even worse; it kind of reminded Dena of cough syrup. She quickly swallowed the contents and shook her head. "Well...that's a good incentive not to get hurt," she said as she stuck out her tongue and handed the empty vial to Vincent. Yuffie crept closer to Dena.

"You're serious about the accident?" Yuffie asked. Not walking for four months was almost unheard of in this world, obviously.

Dena nodded. "Yep...I have the scar to prove it," she said as she lifted her skirt to reveal her left knee. There was a thin scar in the front her knee. "They inserted a rod into the bone of my leg so I didn't have to have a cast...if they didn't than I would have taken a lot longer to heal," she said.

Yuffie studied it for a moment, then shrugged as she stood and straightened again. "Well, thankfully that stuff isn't very common here..." she said. "Even though there are some things that potions can't cure..."

"I figured as much," Dena said, a breeze blew past her and raised goose bumps on her skin. "How much farther is it to the village?" she asked as she stifled a shiver. The potion had healed her wounds but it would do no good if they froze to death.

Yuffie pointed up the slope. "Just up that hill," she replied. "Last one up is a rotten Chocobo egg!" Yuffie laughed as she ran toward the hill. She was halfway up when she slipped on some ice and slid all the way back down and landed face first in to a snow drift... All that could be seen was her flailing legs.

Vincent sweatdropped, debating mentally if he should even bother helping her out or not. Finally coming to the conclusion that once she /_did_/ finally get out (and she would figure out a way, he could be sure of that much), she would chew him out, he walked over to her and grabbed one leg, yanking her out of the snow so that she hung upside-down. "...You really need to be more careful..." he commented.

Yuffie spat out the wad of half-melted snow from her mouth. "I meant to do that! I just wanted to make Dena feel better..." Yuffie said.

Dena blinked. "Did I say that I felt bad?" Dena asked Vincent. The man just dropped the ninja in to the snow bank.

"H-hey!" Yuffie shouted, flailing around a bit. "That's cold! Both socially and physically!"

"...You could get up..." Vincent suggested, watching her with a raised eyebrow.

Yuffie hmphed and stood up from the snow bank. "You're cruel." She said. Dena shook her head.

"Come on...let's get to the village and out of the cold," Dena said as she started to walk up the hill on the look out for ice. After all, she didn't want to end up like Yuffie, upside down in a snowdrift.

As Yuffie followed after the two, she huffed, crossing her arms and pouting slightly at Vincent. "...So what would you have done if Dena had slipped? Huh? Huuuh?"

"...Then I'd help her up..."

"AHA! ...Wait, what...?"

" I said that I'd help her up...Did I stutter?" Vincent asked as they reached the top of the hill.

Dena smiled happily, she could almost feel the warmth of the fires that were nestled in the hearths. She blinked and looked at Yuffie. "Did you ever get in touch with Cloud and the others?"

"Yeah, I did," Yuffie replied.

Dena motioned with her hand to keep talking. "And?"

"They'll be here soon," Yuffie finished. She then grinned. "In the meantime, let's hurry up and get a nice warm hotel room!"

…**Remember…Reviews make the world go round…**


	7. Dreams and Breakfast Conversation

**Okie…Chapter Seven.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own FF7 characters…**

**Starlit Anabelle: Grin evilly So…going to get cozy with a certain guy?**

**Vincent'sgirl06: blush Shut up! Um…maybe sheepishly**

**Starlit Anabelle: XD**

They somehow managed to find a vacant room in the tiny hotel of Icicle Village. The room was big enough; it had enough space to hold two beds, a recliner, and a small bathroom. Yuffie let out a 'whoop' and lunged for the closest bed, the ninja over shot and landed on the edge of the bed; the bed springs bounced back and deposited Yuffie on the floor in a heap, the ninja lay there with swirly eyes. "Not coool." She moaned as Dena stifled a laugh at the poor girl's expense; the room was warm and was greatly appreciated.

"Poor Yuffie." Dena chuckled as Yuffie pulled herself off of the floor and deposited herself on to the bed, the ninja sighed in satisfaction and rolled over on to her back; she asleep almost instantly. "So...her sugar high does have its limitations..." Dena smiled

Vincent chuckled. "I suppose it does." He replied…At that moment, the 'Great Ninja Yuffie'...the 'White Rose of Wutai'...began to snore. Vincent sighed, sitting down in the recliner. "Even when she's asleep..." he started.

Dena sweatdropped as the tiny girl started snoring, putting her father in the other world to shame. "Hey Vincent...let me borrow your gun for a minute." Dena said. Vincent blinked in response.

"No." He replied which caused Dena to sighed.

"Okay fine..." She said as she crept over to the sleeping ninja and gently poked her in the side...once...twice...three times… Yuffie groaned and swatted away at the bothersome intruder. The sleeping ninja rolled over on to her side and stopped her snoring, "Well...that takes care of that." Dena said as she climbed on to the other bed, she leaned her back against the head board and drew her knees to her chest. "I wonder how long it will take the others to reach us..." Dena said as she rested her chin on her knees, she could feel her eyes become heavy and sleepy; the first time in a long time, she didn't like it...the feeling of not being in control.

"Not long..." Vincent replied. "But they can only land their ship on flat, grassy areas. They'll have to land on one of the snow-less peninsulas, and then the hike up here will be about a couple of hours... I'd say about four hours or so."

"Hm..." Dena mumbled as her eyes began to drift close despite her mental orders not to.

"You need to go to sleep...the potion healed your wounds but it did not give your body the rest it needs." Vincent said and Dena nodded ever so slightly.

"You're right." She said her voice was soft and her eyes had begun to un-focus. She moved away from the head board and lay down on the bed; she curled up on her side and pulled the comforter on top of her, she rested her head on one of the small pillows.

Vincent watched her slowly drift off to sleep before walking over to the fireplace and tossing another log in. He glanced back at her and realized that this was the first time he had ever seen her actually and truly sleep…not the empty sleep that she had gotten in the reactor. She seemed so peaceful... He smiled lightly and walked over to the window seat and sat down to watch the white crystalline flakes drift softly onto the fields of snow.

* * *

Dena curled deeper in the warm comforter, her mind drifted in-between the worlds of awake and sleep; even so...she didn't expect the abrupt wake up call. "DENNAAA!" A voice screamed and a body landed on the bed almost launching Dena; it didn't take three guesses to see who it was. "Kaori...let go." Dena groaned as she squirmed in her friends grasp, her friend had her arms wrapped around Dena's mid section and it felt like Kaori was trying to pinch her friend in half.

"Why! We were all worried-we thought that something really bad had happened to you! Well...something bad had technically /already/ happened, but we were half-expecting something worse! And it didn't help that the baka ninja took so freakin long to tell us that you were alright!" Kaori said in her quick voice that tended to easily turn her words into rants.

"I'm alright. I'm breathing but not for long if you don't LET GO..." Dena said as she squirmed, they had already fallen off the bed and in to the floor; Vincent watching from the window in mild interest.

Kaori finally released her, sitting up and rubbing the bump on her head that she had gained from hitting the floor. "Owwie..." she muttered. She then smiled and sweatdropped, tilting her head. "But bottom line...we're glad you're okay. I think you get my drift already, though..."

Dena sat up from her position on the floor, Kaori leaned her back against one bed while Dena did the same with the other. "I'm grateful but...geeze...I was having a good dream." Dena sighed as she started catching her breath since half of it had been knocked out of her when they had fallen to the floor in an awkward heap. "It's been a long time since I slept that good..." Dena said as she stretched her arms since they were stiff from the weird position she had some how managed to twist her self in to before Kaori had woken her up.

"A good dream...?" Kaori asked as she blinked. She then grinned and leaned back as she crossed her arms. "About you-know-who?"

Dena blinked, "You-know-who?" She asked, obviously confused. Kaori did a Jack Sparrow nod a few times over toward Vincent, thankful that he was looking out the window again and absorbed in his own thoughts.

Dena sweatdropped slightly, "I don't really remember all that much...especially since someone had to wake me up so abruptly." Dena said as she gently poked her friend's leg, she unconsciously stuck her other hand in her pocket to feel her diary only to find it not there. She nearly cried out, "The diary." She moaned as she dug further in her pocket, "I didn't think about it until just now. It's gone."

Kaori frowned slightly. "Maybe Vinny picked it up...?" she suggested.

Dena shifted around so she could see Vincent clearly, "Hey, Vincent. Do you know where my mom's diary is?" She asked, Vincent looked at her and shook his head no. Dena groaned sadly and sank back down to the ground.

"Oh man...I had it with me when I was kidnapped but the stupid pervert knocked me out. He probably took it when I was unconscious." Dena sighed as she cradled her head in her hands.

"Maybe, but...why would he take a random book? It's not like it was a weapon, and I seriously doubt that he would've known your mom..." Kaori pointed out.

"I don't know...probably thought that it was mine and that he would get a couple of kicks out of it." Dena said.

"Meh..." Kaori muttered as she shook her head and then climbed to her feet. "So, are you hungry? The others are waiting for all of us to come down to breakfast..."

"I guess." Dena sighed as she climbed to her feet and smoothed out the wrinkles from her clothes. Maybe she could go shopping after they ate and get some new clothes despite how much she hated shopping...Dena sighed when she remembered she had no gil, maybe she could get some from Tifa.

Kaori nodded and started heading out of the room with Dena and down the stairs with Vincent following. Kaori then grinned slightly, muttering over to Dena, "Oh, and you know, Yukiro's been pretty worried about you..." she said.

Dena blinked which caused Kaori to smirk. "Of course he was worried...everyone was...right?"

"Well yeah, everyone," Kaori said. She then grinned slightly while lacing her fingers behind her head. "But I gotta say that I think he was one of the ones freaking out the most... Seriously, he wanted to go with Vincent and Yuffie, but Vincent pointed out for some reason that he would be a bit too obvious..."

Dena nodded with understanding; she and Vincent were /familiar/ with Yukiro's fire materia wielding ability. "Yea…that makes sense." She said as they exited the hotel and just in time for a big gust of air to hit their faces.

Kaori blinked. "So...what all did they mean exactly? I mean...I don't really see what's so obvious about him except for maybe the fact that his albino-like traits might stand out in the shadows and all..."

Dena scratched her cheek lazily as they walked through the fresh powder snow toward the restaurant that they were evidently meeting everyone, "Well...Yukiro almost fried me when I accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation he was having with Connor. Luckily the fire went off in some other direction..." She said and she could see Vincent shaking his head though the corner of her eye.

Kaori sweatdropped. "Seriously...?" she asked. She then shook her head. "Sheesh... When people go out and buy a flamethrower, they should really learn that one-it's bad to use on friends, and two-they need to figure out how to use it." she commented, not knowing that it was actually not a flamethrower that Yukiro had used but fire materia.

Dena shook her head and smiled, they quickly arrived at the restaurant; the group had already claimed two of the tables off to the side. Everyone paused with what they were doing as the tiny group entered the building. Yukiro looked up and blinked, he then stood and hurried over to her. "Dena... It's good to see that you're all right. You /are/ all right, right? No injuries or anything?"

Dena sweatdropped as Yukiro looked at her for any possible injuries, "Yes...I'm fine. None the worse for wear." Dena said as she waved her hand side to side. "Vincent gave me a potion..."

Yukiro blinked. "Oh, right... Yuffie did mention that..." he said, now looking a little embarrassed.

Cid chuckled as went to light up a cigarette, "Old man Vincent is getting soft. Never thought that I would see the day." He said, Tifa sighed and leaned over; snatching the cigarette from his lips.

"No smoking..." Tifa said as she tore the cigarette in half.

"Damn it, woman!" He cursed.

Kaori wrinkled her nose. "Yeah...please don't. If nothing else, not around me. Cigarette smoke makes me ill..." she seconded.

Cid grunted as he conceded but was not pleased so he decided to vent his frustrations out on a certain dark haired ex-Turk. "So...Vincent...never saw you grow so attached to someone over so short a time."

Vincent looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "I hang around you guys, don't I?"

Dena leaned over to Tifa, "Why is Cid making the potion thing such a big deal?" She whispered.

Tifa smiled and sweatdropped. "Probably trying to get his mind off his lost cigarette," she assured her.

Dena nodded, "Right...I hate those things...death-in-a-stick." She said

"No kidding. We've been trying to get Cid to chew something like straw or toothpicks instead of cigs," Tifa agreed.

The waitress came by and everyone took their seats; Dena ended up sitting in-between Yukiro and Vincent. Kaori wasn't in a better position, she ended up sitting next to Cloud; Dena smirked when she saw her friend as stiff as a board.

Kaori blinked as she glanced over at Dena and then told her silently, 'Don't give me that look!' Glancing over at Cloud again, she quickly looked away and down at the menu, blushing.

Dena's smiled seemed to widen, 'What look?' She silently asked.

'You know what I mean!'

'I have no idea what you're talking about...'

'Do too!'

'Do not.'

'...I'm gonna throw a fork at you...'

Dena stuck her tongue out at her friend playfully, only when she looked around did she realize that everyone at the table was staring at the two girls. "Heh...heh." Dena laughed nervously, she didn't realize that they had been carrying on a conversation by lip reading; it must have looked very strange. Kaori turned red and buried her face in to her menu; Dena coughed slightly and turned to look at her own.

"...I've said it before, I'll say it again: women are damn crazy," Cid finally said.

Kaori stuck her tongue out at Cid, "We're not crazy...we're normal. Everyone else is the crazy ones."

Dena sighed, "Kaori please...wait until after breakfast to mess with everyone's minds." She said as she set her menu down and cradled her chin in one of her hands. She skimmed the menu…almost everything on the menu was /way/ too much food for her or Kaori. She finally settled for a fried egg.

Tifa blinked, "Aren't you going to eat more? A single egg isn't a lot." She said to which Dena and Kaori just shrugged.

"We can't eat any more than that...we just can't." Dena said as she took a sip of her water.

"Why in the hell not...sound's like some stupid diet to me." Cid said as he chewed on the butt of his torn up cigarette, probably wishing that it was lit.

Kaori sighed, "I will explain it once...and as simple as possible." She said, "Captured by Hojo...held in his lab for one year in test tubes...didn't eat for the entire duration of the time...Easy enough?" She then considered for a moment. "Or, even more simply...I guess there were nutrients in the water or something...like fish food."

Dena suppressed a laugh, "Nice analogy." She said as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, "But seriously...Our stomachs shrank to a point that only a few bites are enough. You should have seen us the first couple of days...Yukiro and Connor were freaking out and trying to get us to eat, thinking that we were trying to starve ourselves to death." Dena pointed out. Yukiro, who sat to her right, seemed to grow a bit pink and sink deeper in to his chair.

Connor across the table smiled, "Do you blame us?" He asked.

Dena smiled, "No...I don't really like being fussed over. Not one of my favorite things in the world." She said as she waved her hand side-to-side dismissively.

"Guess I should've figured it out, though..." Yukiro muttered. "After all, Connor didn't eat very much either after escaping..."

Yuffie blinked. "Escaping...?" she asked, tilting her head. "Escaping from where?" Yukiro looked up and blinked.

"Oh! Um...well..." he started, a bit hesitant to say.

"From our father..." Connor spoke up. "And the other people working in his lab..."

The table fell in to an uneasy silence; Yuffie amused herself by leaning back in her chair; balancing on the two back legs, keeping balance by hooking her toe under the table's edge. Dena smirked and scooted deeper in to her chair, Vincent looked at her through the corner of his eye. 'What is she doing?' He questioned mentally, he was answered when Yuffie suddenly let out a shriek and fell backwards; depositing her and the chair in to the floor. Dena slowly sat up in her chair and pretended to be innocent.

Kaori sweatdropped, she as well as everyone else looked down at Yuffie but they didn't find it /too/ surprising. She then rolled her eyes and turned back to Yukiro. "How did you find him..?" she asked. "I mean...where you both already in the lab, or..."

Yukiro shook his head. "No... Connor was actually kidnapped. It took me a while to find him, but I found him nonetheless. You see… a person who's never been there would have a difficult time finding it without any clues to go on at all, Connor and I are connected through an empathetic bond since we're twins. We can sense each other's emotions, and no matter how far apart we are, we can still sense each other while the both of us are still alive. It just grows more difficult with distance."

Dena leaned forward on her elbows, "That's really something..." She said as she turned to Kaori. "Wasn't there something like that back 'home'?" Dena asked, she thought she remembered Kaori mentioning it once during one of her conspiracy rants.

"Hm..?" Kaori asked, blinking. "When..?" she asked as she rubbed one of her eyes and shook her head. "Sorry if I seem a bit clueless right now...my brain doesn't normally work at full capacity this early in the morning..."

Connor blinked and he turned slightly toward Kaori. "Did you remember to give Dena her diary back?" He asked… there was a long silence...Kaori's sweatdropped and slowly turned to look at Dena who was scowling at her.

"Heh...oops." Kaori sweatdropped as she flailed a little. "Whaaat? My memory never has been all that great since I never got any sleep back home! You know that..." she said as pulled out the diary from her pocket and slid it over to Dena. "Besides, at least I didn't accidentally leave it just sort of lying there on the ground..."

"At least you were aware enough to do that..." Dena said as she reached over and grabbed the small book, she was mad a first but yes...it was true about what Kaori had said. Dena held it in her lap under the table, Yukiro blinked. "I thought that you didn't have any belongings..." He said.

"Yea...and that diary looks really old..." Yuffie added as she had picked herself off of the floor and had resumed her place in her chair; all four legs firmly on the ground.

Dena shifted uncomfortably, she hated being the center of attention; she stroked the binding of the diary. "Um...heh...not yet guys. I haven't figured everything out yet." She said as she lowered her head, Vincent knew…and Cloud might have an idea...why did she have a problem with telling the others? She turned to Kaori, "On another note...have you remembered anything yet?" Dena asked her friend; she knew that Kaori would know what she was talking about.

"Meh..?" Kaori blinked and then shook her head. "Not really...then again, when do I ever remember anything?" she replied with a slight sigh. "Then again, I do seem to remember things that happened back when I was two rather than earlier in the day...I swear it's Alzheimer's...but I'll be sure to tell you if I remember anything."

Dena nodded, but Yuffie blinked obviously a bit confused. "Hey...stop having conversations that the rest of us don't know what you're talking about." She ranted slightly, Dena and Kaori sweatdropped.

"Sorry." Dena said.

Kaori then smiled a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess that is kinda rude... Sorry, guys. I guess we just keep forgetting that we're not being watched constantly by the US government around here...or something..."

Yuffie blinked, "US government? What are you talking about?" She asked.

Dena sighed. "I think its best we stop talking before we dig ourselves a hole that we can't get out of..." She said to Kaori.

Kaori shrugged. "Suit yourself..." she said. "Besides, if I get started on just the conspiracies of our world, I'm going to need to explain a lot more background info, and I'm not really up to doing that right now..." she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes sleepily.

The waitress came with all their orders, she had to make several trips though because of the large group; Kaori ordered toast and jelly…after that she changed her position from leaning her head back on the chair to laying it down on to the table. Dena was chewing on a bite of egg when an idea suddenly popped in to her head, she took the paper that her straw had been wrapped up in and balled it up; she laid the little ball on the table and flicked it in Kaori's direction.

It bounced off her friend's forehead, Kaori sat up sleepily; her eyes half closed, and one cheek was red from the table. "Who threw that?" She asked as Vincent looked over at Dena who continued to chew on her egg.

"You're such a trouble maker." He stated.

Dena smiled, "Only when I'm bored." She replied.

Kaori raised an eyebrow, and then looked around, picking up a straw. Unfortunately, she had gained a certain trait from her dad growing up...revenge was sweet. Yanking off the end, she blew into the straw, causing the little wrapper thingy to shoot across the table, hitting Dena smack in the middle of her forehead.

Dena and Kaori glared at each other for a moment, Yukiro blinked; he thought he saw sparks fly between the two girl's gazes. Dena and Kaori suddenly broke out in to laughter, "It's been a long time since we've done that." Dena said as she picked up the discarded straw wrapper that Kaori had blown at her, she balled it up and placed it by her plate. She went back to her egg, she took a couple more bites until she felt satisfied.

Kaori finished eating her toast, and then dropped her head back again. "Nap time..." she said. Dena sweatdropped and went to poke her friend's forehead only to have her wrist grabbed by Kaori. "Don't start...we'll be at this all day...and all I care about right now is sleep." Kaori mumbled her face against the table; Dena tried to pout.

"Okay..." She said as she leaned back in to her seat and watched as everybody ate; she blinked when she realized that Vincent had an empty space in front of him. "Aren't you going to eat?" She asked.

Vincent looked over at her, and then shook his head. "I ate a little earlier..." he replied.

"He's a vampire... Just offer him some garlic..." Kaori muttered, still half-asleep.

Dena sweatdropped when she heard what Kaori said Vincent raised an eyebrow at her friend's comment. "Don't mind her..." Dena said as she contemplated flicking the paper ball that lay beside her hand at her friend, she sighed and decided not to; that would only lead to Kaori getting pissed and Dena would probably end up with a plate of food to the face. "Her brain never stays far from conspiracy theories or the supernatural...I think it's genetic."

"Genetic? My mom and dad are more or less skeptics and I don't have a kid. The aunt that I barely know supposedly is kinda into the same stuff...but I don't think she is entirely. So how is it genetic?" Kaori asked, opening one eye up to look over at her.

Dena smiled at her friend, "Well...I see someone isn't tired enough to come up with a good argument about her sanity." She said as she rested her chin in one hand.

"Almost always in the mood to argue..." Kaori said, raising an eyebrow. "I'd possibly become a lawyer, but I'm really not all that interested in law... Besides, there's too many of them already."

"That and lawyers are cheating scum bags." Dena replied.

Kaori nodded. "That too... I actually considered mentioning that, but I couldn't figure out a way to make a subtle implication to that fact..." she replied with a slight shrug. Kaori then stood. "Well, anywho, as much as I hate to suggest it... We've gotta go shopping. I really don't wanna go back to my nap being stuck with the same clothes that I've had since waking up. Plus...I need another pair of hiking boots."

Dena nodded, "You're absolutely right. We need to get some clothes of our own..." She said as she cradled her head in her hand, she turned her head lightly to see Yuffie and Tifa looking at them with big smiles on their faces. "I think we just made a mistake." Dena said as she sweatdropped, Kaori did the same.

Kaori sighed. "...All of a sudden I feel like I'm not too far from home at all... Mom and Elena have still managed to somehow follow me..."

"This is why I hate shopping..." Dena sighed.

Kaori rolled her eyes. "Just give us some cash and we'll see what's out there..." she said.

Some of the guys blinked and looked a bit clueless. "Cash..?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah... You know... Cash? Money..?"

"You mean gil..."

Kaori sweatdropped. "Um...gills are what fish have... We're not planning to go swimming (especially not in this weather!). We're planning to get some better clothing..."

Dena shook her head, "I think he means that 'gil' is the type of currency...Like the yen from Japan." Dena said as she took another sip of water.

Tifa and Yuffie suddenly stood up and coughed, "Well...I think that Yuffie and I should go take Dena and Kaori shopping for some clothes. We know the way around and we don't want them to get lost." Tifa said.

"Right." The hyper female ninja said as she nodded her head enthusiastically.

Dena and Kaori sweatdropped, "We're in trouble." Kaori whispered and Dena nodded in agreement. Tifa and Yuffie dragged both of the poor two out of the restaurant but not before grabbing the money bag from one of the guys, "I feel sorry for those two." Cloud said as he chomped down on a piece of toast, Yukiro raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked, Cloud sighed. "You've never been shopping with Tifa." He replied.

**Dun dun Duuuuunnnn….Oh good lord! What are Yuffie and Tifa going to do with us now that they have managed to tear us away from the group and in toward the dreaded shopping mall…Remember…Reviews are highly prized and accepted.**


	8. Snow Gallore

**Here's Chapter 8. **

**Vincent'sGirl06: NO! NOT SHOPPING!**

**Starlit Anabelle: . Get over it…**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting sick of these disclaimers….I do not own FFVII character except our own original characters…**

"No!" Dena howled as Yuffie tried to drag her in to a dress shop, her feet had kept on slipping in the slush and so she resorted to clinging to a lamp post next to the door, "I said no frills."

Kaori sweatdropped but then smirked slightly. "And this...is where I take my leave..." she said as she started backing out of the dress shop. She suddenly sweatdropped as her back hit someone standing in the doorway...Tifa...and gulped. "...Uh oh..." Long pause. "...Shit..."

"I don't want to be girly!" Dena cried as Yuffie pulled harder and then she heard crashes in the back from where Tifa had cornered Kaori.

The red head came running out from the back with a pink dress on with lots of lace, "I hate you guys!" She screamed as Tifa lunged and grabbed her by the back of the dress and pulled the red head to the back of the shop. "No!" Kaori howled.

There were several more crashes in the back before everything suddenly went eerily silent. All of a sudden, Kaori came walking out of the back, dusting herself off and looking around as she wandered across the store towards the door. But suddenly she stopped, blinking for a moment. "...Ooo..." she said as she started staring at a long black dress that looked like something right out of Hot Topic...or Wallflower. The sleeves at the end were open and flowy, with white lace decorating the collar, sleeves, and hem. It had a sort of ribbon design to it, and had some sort of...possibly Victorian flair to it. "Now /that/...I might not mind getting..."

"Kaori!" Dena howled as Yuffie resorted to pushing her in to the store, Dena had one hand on each side of the door frame with her nails digging in to the wood. "Help! I don't want to be girly." She cried. Kaori sweatdropped, it was true. She had only seen Dena in a dress twice and that was for semi-formal and prom. Dena cried out as the wood slipped from her grasp with her nails leaving little trails in the wood.

Both Yuffie and Dena toppled back but Yuffie ended up with swirly eyes, Dena groaned and rubbed her head as she got up. "What were you talking about?" Dena asked as she stumbled over to where her friend was rummaging through a rack of dresses.

"Well, you know how I hate dresses...unless they're kimonos...?" Kaori asked. "Well, even /I'll/ admit that these are some pretty awesome dresses... Got a bit of that gothic/Renaissance/Victorian flair, ya know?"

"Yea..." Dena said as she rubbed her head, she did admit that they were pretty cool but then suddenly noticed Yuffie starting to come too, "If you don't want to try on half the store the let's go." Dena said as she motioned toward the semi-conscious Yuffie but Tifa had yet to come forward from the back of the shop.

Kaori blinked and looked back and forth from Yuffie to the dresses again, then glanced around and grinned. She grabbed a long, black silk dress decorated with white lace and numerous leather belts, which really seemed to be there more for decoration and flair than function. She paid for it and quickly followed after Dena before Tifa and Yuffie could wake up. "Man...We really need to find something like Hot Topic around here..." she said. "Or at least JC Penny. That's practically the only store that I've really relented to shopping that isn't Hot Topic...aside from Belk to get my black jeans and /sometimes/ but rarely Kohl's during the winter..."

Dena sweatdropped as her friend ranted about clothing stores, she had never really liked shopping all that much. Just point her toward the nearest thrift shop and she would be just fine, they finally stumbled upon a regular clothing store. Dena and Kaori found several shirts, pants, underwear (thank god), and some pajamas; Dena was also able to find a pair of black boots with belts on the side.

She was about to pay for her clothes when she noticed a dress (of all things) on the wall, it was really cool. It had no sleeves and was black with red trim; it had a high collar and went down to about her ankles if she gauged it correctly. Dena felt her hand twitch ever so slightly and she then mental groaned; she ended up buying it and shoving it in to the bottom of her bag. She hoped that her friend had not seen.

Kaori, meanwhile, was picking up where she had left off in terms of fashion-black jeans, brown hiking boots, a blue turtleneck with a loose, over-sized collar and two diamond lines going down one side, and a black leather jacket like the one she had back home. "You ready?"

Dena nodded, "Yea...let's get back to the others before Yuffie and Tifa find us...I don't think I'll survive another trip to the dress department." Dena said as she tossed the bag over her shoulder, it was slightly heavy but it was she could manage. "You know...we need a travel bag...I don't think these paper bags will last very long." Dena said thoughtfully.

Kaori nodded. "Yeah, you've got a point..." she agreed. "And besides, I should probably get some sort of rolling bag. Carrying stuff like this isn't all that great for my back, and it's not as if I can go to the chiropractor's if something happens..." Dena nodded in agreement.

They somehow found the market; they eventually stumbled upon a tent that sold a variety of items. Dena settled for a simple drawstring duffle bag and was looking at the assortment of knives while Kaori was picking out her bag.

Kaori looked over and blinked then grinned. "Awesome. They got blades here..." she commented. Looking around, she finally managed to find a section of various blades and swords and whatnot, staring at them. "Ooo..."

Dena sweatdropped since she knew how her friend got when she saw sharp-pointy things but she had to admit...they did look rather tempting. Dena was eyeing a pair of hand blades, they had holes for your fingers to slide through; the blade came out a couple of inches on the outside of your hand, the blade even reached in front of the finger holes.

Kaori looked over at Dena. "Planning to get a weapon?" she asked. She then looked back over at the blades, studying the swords in particular. "We're probably going to need one or a few... After all, we don't entirely want a repeat of the whole 'ambush at the mansion' incident..."

"True...if we do get some blades then we need to get some training in before we use them...other wise we would probably hurt ourselves before hurting the opposition." Dena pointed out, "You know...I was also thinking of getting a firearm of some sort...I did take 4H gun class a few years back."

Kaori shrugged. "I've got swordsmanship skills from Solar. I mean, after all, the swords that they have may be boffer swords, but that really doesn't matter a whole lot into the event. People get really into character and create their own sword stances and stuff...and it's pretty cool. As a result, I've actually managed to pick up a few effective moves and stances..."

"Hn..." Dena mumbled a reply as she had turned back around to look at the blades; she noticed a slot where what looked like a ball was supposed to go on several of blades...it was quite intriguing. She shrugged, she would ask the others later; she turned and saw that they also had a gun rack. She walked over and picked up a hand gun, it had three slots in the handle; it was well crafted and had three barrels instead of the one that she was used to seeing. "Nice choice." A voice said behind her, Dena was so surprised that she almost dropped the gun; she turned around and saw Vincent behind her.

"It's a lot like the gun that I tend to carry... But how well do you think you can use it?" Vincent asked.

Dena tried to calm her pounding heart, "Well...It might take a bit of practice since I'm not used to the model of gun...but I have had shooting lessons before. I was quite good." Dena said as she looked the gun over once again.

Vincent nodded. "That's good to hear..." he said. "Though if you ever feel like you need a lesson or two, feel free to ask."

"Right." Dena nodded but looked thoughtful for a minute. "Hey Vincent...what are these slots for?" She asked as she pointing to the handle of the gun where the slots were. "I've never seen anything like these before." Dena said which caused to Vincent raise an eyebrow.

"I assume that you don't have materia in your world, either..?"

Dena blinked, 'Materia?', "Nope..." She replied.

Vincent nodded. "The souls of the planet make up the lifestream which flows all around us. The physical form of it that lies under the earth, however, is mako and whenever it is condensed, it becomes materia. Materia has different traits: various types of magic, summons, and skills," he explained.

Dena blinked again, "Sounds complicated." She said as she looked at the gun. "So...these slots are for the materia and...What ever materia you have is what you can use during battle." She said out loud.

Vincent nodded. "That's right," he replied. "Different weapons will have varying numbers of slots and various ways of combining," he added.

Dena looked confused, "Okay..." She said slowly, "What does the materia look like? By these slots I would say...palm sized."

"Palm-sized and normally in an orb shape... Of course, they can vary in shape if the owner wants them cut in a certain way," Vincent replied as he remembered a few pieces of materia that he had seen in glass cases in one of the showrooms of the ShinRa Building.

Dena raised an eyebrow, "And...I guess that the materia would be different colors depending on the type..."

Vincent nodded finding it a good thing that she was starting to catch on. "Yes."

Dena finally decided to buy the gun and hand blades, the hand blades didn't have any slots for materia so they would be a complete hand to hand weapon; she also bought a holster for her gun, she put all her new accessories in her duffle bag.

Kaori glanced over as she bought a katana and strapped it onto her waist. She paused for a moment and then grinned. "...Alright, yeah...this is about as cool as I imagined it to be..."

Dena looked over at her friend and nodded, "It does look cool...I'll have to be careful not to call you short anymore." She smiled.

Kaori stuck out her tongue. "You should've been careful to begin with," she huffed.

"Yea but you didn't have a weapon then..." Dena said as she stuck out her tongue at her friend in retaliation. Vincent smirked; they acted just like children when they were around each other. Dena smiled and turned back to Vincent, "So...where are the others? Still eating?" She asked.

Vincent shook his head. "No. They all went off to do their own thing..." he replied to which Dena nodded, "I saw those claw marks on one of the store's door frame...was it you?" He asked and Dena smiled sheepishly.

"Yea...you caught me." She said.

Vincent shrugged slightly. "Considering that it was Tifa and Yuffie dragging you around, that's not all too surprising..."

"That and it was a dress shop...that only made it worse." Dena pointed out, "We managed to get away and buy what we needed." She smiled, "Speaking of which...you haven't seen them...have you?"

"They were lying on the ground last I saw them... You might want to be a bit careful when they reawaken-they'll try dragging you into more stores against your will."

Dena went to reply when some movement caught her eye outside of the shop's door, she 'eeped'; and jumped behind Vincent who had turned around to see what she had yelped about. Yuffie stepped through the door, she scanned the store quickly; she only saw Vincent. "Have you seen Dena and Kaori?" She asked.

Vincent blinked, glanced over at Kaori who was standing in plain view. "...No..." he replied.

Yuffie scrunched up her face and left, Vincent could feel Dena gripping his cloak as she tried her best not to laugh out loud. "I swear that dark hair is not real...She is a true blonde." Kaori said sweatdropping, she had been standing in plain view...maybe it was the clothes.

"That was too much..." Dena sighed as she got herself under control; she realized with a start what she had been gripping. "Sorry Vincent." She apologized as she took her hand and smoothed out the wrinkles that she had created on the red fabric.

Vincent sweatdropped looked down at her then back up at the now-empty doorway and shook his head with surprise at Yuffie's ignorance or how extreme her tunnel vision could be. "Well, it's a good thing she didn't find me, anyway... If she tried anything, well...let's just say I that I haven't really used my sword yet," Kaori said.

Vincent frowned slightly at her. "Kaori..." he started to sound a little scolding.

Kaori waved a hand nonchalantly. "Relax. I'd be more Kenshin than Battosai... Ya know, flip the sword over to the blunt side and all..." she replied.

Dena sighed as Vincent blinked; he had no idea who Kenshin was. "Kaori...be nice." Dena said as she stepped out from around Vincent.

"Blunt side! Considering her intentions, smacking her upside the head with the blunt end of a sword to knock her unconscious would be nice in comparison!" Kaori argued.

Dena just shook her head, "Enough...I'm starting to get a headache." Dena said as she rubbed her temples, it was true; shopping had this effect on her, except for shopping for manga...don't let her ever get near a book store, you wouldn't see her for hours. Same for Kaori…

Kaori nodded. Shopping had an aching effect on her as well, though in a bit of a different way. Clothes shopping normally tended to give her stomach aches-though that was probably a stress stomach ache caused by certain sisters calling her choice of clothing 'Granny clothes'. And walking around on anything other than dirt for hours gave her sore feet, whether her shoes were comfortable or not-her feet were tiny, not very proportionate. "Should we head back..?"

"I guess so..." Dena said as grabbed her bag; she had yet to change in to her new clothes. Kaori nodded and they headed off to the inn again. Surprisingly enough, she actually couldn't wait to try on her new dress... An almost eerie thing, considering that it was her.

They headed back to their hotel room with Vincent following, he unlocked the door with the key and allowed the girls to go in first; he had not forgotten his manners during his 23 year slumber. He went to step in when Kaori spun on her heel and glared at him, he blinked. 'What did I do?' He wondered when Kaori pushed him out of the doorway and out on to the hall. "Pervert." She said before she shut the door, not easily he might add. He could hear Dena fussing at her friend.

"I can't believe you just did that!' Dena said as she tossed her bag on to her bed, the springs bounced lightly.

Kaori stuck her tongue out at Dena. "You don't want him watching us change, would you..?" she asked. She then raised an eyebrow. "..Or would you..?"

Dena felt her eyes widen and cheeks start to heat up, she knew that she was blushing. "You're such a pervert...there's a bathroom we could have changed in...No need to be rude."

"Yes, but there's only one bathroom and two of us..."

"We could have taken turns..."

Kaori shrugged. "Well, either way, too late now..."

Dena sighed as she un-did her duffle bag; she pulled out a pair of jeans, a red long-sleeve shirt, and a couple of other things before going in to the bathroom to change. She came out and sighed in satisfaction, "It feels so good to be in pants again." She said as she crammed her stuff back in to her duffle bag and pulled out her jacket, she had enough common sense to buy a jacket with it snowing outside. She took a moment to arrange her holster on her waist and put her gun in, which she had named HellBringer, she put her boots on and slipped her handblades in to them; hell...they even had a tiny space for such items.

Kaori did plan to change into some normal clothes, of course...but she did want to make sure that the dress actually fit (even before she did lose the weight she was planning to lose, she still didn't really know much about what dress size would fit her) and looked decent on her in case she might need to take it back before leaving. As Dena walked into the bathroom, she changed in the bedroom. The dress was gothic and black, reaching down to the floor (she was sure she could lift it off the ground enough to where she wouldn't trip over it if she got some higher shoes). The collar was high, trimmed with white lace, a small black belt going around it for decor. .

The sleeves were long and flowy, though with layers of ruffly white and lace underneath. There was a small black belt on each arm-one on the upper arm, one around the elbow, making the fabric between poof just slightly. Around the waist was another black belt with a silver buckle, and a second layer of white lace poked out from beneath the hem of the black skirt. Kaori looked up from her spot in the corner, watching as Dena walked out of the bathroom, her friend then rubbed the back of her head a little sheepishly, feeling a little unsure in something she wasn't used to wearing. "Um... Hey... What do you think?" she asked a bit hesitantly.

Dena's lips parted in to a smile, "You look really good." Dena said as she nodded approvingly, "I think Cloud would like it." Dena said smirking… Kaori's face exploded red.

"Wh-what? Huh?" Kaori asked, growing a bit more shy and startled. She then shook her head. "Well...it's not for him! I mean, me? Cloud? Yeah right..." she said quickly. "I just got this dress because it looked all cool and gothicy and Wallflowery... Mom probably wouldn't have let me get anything like this back home, after all..."

Dena smiled, "Just kidding..." She said waving her hand side to side, "It looks really nice." She said, "Bathroom's yours if you want to change in privacy." She said as she motioned to the bathroom door.

Kaori quickly nodded and grabbed some casual clothes from her bag and heading in to the bathroom. A couple minutes later, all of a sudden... "Oh god... HOW DO YOU GET THIS THING OFF...?!" A loud crash soon followed the shout.

Dena sweatdropped and climbed off the bed, "Hold on!" She called as she walked over to the door and turned the knob; she sweatdropped even further when she saw her friend lying in the bathtub. "You're pathetic." Dena sighed.

Kaori had her eyes shut as she pouted slightly. "Lay off, I never wear things like these..." she explained. "Besides, I dun care what my little sister said about arm length... My arms do not reach back far enough to get the zipper in the back. At least, not when it comes to unzipping..."

"Well stand up so I can help..." Dena said as she held out her hand toward her friend, she helped her friend up and unzipped the dress half way to Kaori could do the rest. "I don't understand why you have to be such a klutz..." Dena said as she closed the bathroom door, giving Kaori some privacy so she could finish changing.

"Not a klutz..." Kaori shot back, still pouting a bit. But as the door closed behind Dena and she thought for a moment, she then added in a call through the door, "Besides, if you think I'm klutzy now, just wait until I'm wearing this with heels!"

"Don't come near me then...I don't want to die by you falling on me..." Dena said as she tried not to laugh when she heard a low growl from the other side of the door.

Kaori nearly flailed a bit as she pulled on her normal attire: black corduroys, a white turtleneck, and a black leather jacket, along with brown hiking boots. "Don't make me come out there!" she warned.

Dena couldn't help but laugh, "You have to come out some time so..." Dena smiled, "I'm going outside..." Dena called out as she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back, she wanted to take advantage of her new clothes and jacket. She closed the door behind her and stepped out, the snow crunched noisily under her boots; she smiled, it was quite the change from her aunt's clothes. "Very nice." She said as she snuggled in to her new jacket.

Kaori sweatdropped when she heard the door shut. She came out and jumped on the bed, she sat there for a minute before she suddenly frowned slightly. "Hm...I gotta draw somethin...or write..." And with that, her quest for paper and pencil began

Meanwhile, Yukiro was standing outside the inn, looking up at the overcast sky. He blended in so well that it was practically a natural camouflage-his white hair, pale skin, and white shirt just barely stood out from the snowy ground, and his crystal blue eyes didn't help much in distinguishing differences between the falling snowflakes and human traits in the winter wonderland. His hands were jammed into his pockets, and he seemed somewhat thoughtful-at least, too thoughtful to really notice someone coming up behind him.

* * *

"Boo..." Someone whispered in his ear, his eyes went wide and he swung his arm out to hit who ever was behind him; unluckily for him, his feet slipped out from under him and deposited him on his back in the snow. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright?!" Dena asked as she quickly bent down beside Yukiro, "I didn't mean to scare you..." She said as she helped him sit up.

"Y...yes... I'm fine... I'll be fine..." Yukiro assured her although he was still trying to get the swirliness out of his eyes. "Just a little tense..." He quickly shook his head to try to regain his bearings then looked up at her and blinked, looking slightly concerned. "I didn't hit you, did I..?"

Dena smiled slightly, "No..." She said as she looked at him, she was glad that he didn't hit his head when he fell. "I'm alright." She said as she stood up and extended a hand toward him, "Need a lift?" She asked as her smile widened. Yukiro blushed a little and accepted her hand; Dena helped him up and helped him brush off the snow where it clung stubbornly to his jacket and long hair.

Yukiro sweatdropped as he glanced back. "Ironic that I'm a pyro and yet I can't get the snow off of me..." he commented in a mutter. He then looked over at Dena, he smiled as he sweatdropped; he rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Thanks..." he said.

"No problem...It's my fault you fell in the first place." She said as she dusted the snow off her hands and shoved them in to the warmth of her pockets, Yukiro blinked as he surveyed her new outfit; she seemed to be more in her element than before.

After an awkward pause, he finally got up the nerve to compliment her. "You...look nice," he said. "Yuffie and Tifa's doing, or your own?"

Dena smiled, "My own...If it was up to the other two than I would probably be in lace right now..." Dena said as she noticed a bulge in his jacket pocket. "The fire appeared before...it was materia...right?" She asked since she had yet a chance to see any up close.

Yukiro blinked and then nodded. "Oh, yes..." he replied as he pulled the materia out of his pocket and held it out to her. It was a green color but it seemed almost as if it were being lit with flames from within, a faint glow. "I only really have one piece..."

"Cool..." Dena said as she took the orb in to her hands, she picked it up in one hand and stared at it through the light. "It looks fragile..." Dena said as she looked at it with curiosity. Yukiro blinked…was it his imagination or did Dena's blue eyes lighten a fraction? He shook his head, must have been his imagination.

He smiled slightly and tilted his head. "If it were fragile, then it probably would've already been broken..." he admitted.

"Hm...It's seen a bit of action then..." Dena said as she handed the materia back to Yukiro who placed it back in his pocket.

"Not recently, to be honest... But a couple of years ago, it did..."

"Is that how long it's been? Since you rescued your brother?" She asked as they started walking down the street. Dena preoccupied herself with blowing 'smoke' in the cold air.

Yukiro blinked but then nodded. "Yes..." he replied. "Almost three years now..."

Dena smiled slightly, "He's lucky to have a brother like you..." She said as she turned around and starting walking backwards in the snow, Yukiro smiled and blushed a bit...'Why in the hell am I blushing so much?' He though ferociously to himself, he looked up only to see white...

He couldn't only blink as the snowball collided with his face, he took his hand and wiped away the damp slush from his eyes; he could see Yuffie across the street laughing her head off with Dena standing off to the side with her hands to her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "That's cold." Yukiro wined, Dena opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by a snowball colliding with her chest; she glared over to where Yuffie was smiling. Dena smirked when her eyes traveled a bit above where Yuffie was standing, she bent down and made a snow ball; Yuffie blinked when the white projectile when straight over her head, missing her completely.

"What was that?" Yuffie shouted before there was a slight hiss and before she could blink, she was completely covered in snow; she looked up and saw the overhang which she had been standing close to. Yuffie growled and made a snow ball, "You're going to pay for attacking the White Rose of Wutai!" She said.

"Oh yeah, you're white alright..." Dena snickered. "Cold enough for ya?"

"Why you... Oooo! You're really going to get it now!" Yuffie called down as she reached down to where she had put together an emergency supply of snowballs and picking up about three of them. "With my special ninja technique of multiple snowballs..." she said (while sounding a lot like Sailor Moon making her speech), "I shall pummel you!"

Dena smile as she dodged several snow balls aimed at her direction, she blinked when a snow ball collided with her shoulder…it had come from the side, not from Yuffie's direction; she looked over at Yukiro who had snow on his hands. "Hey...you're supposed to be on my side!" Dena exclaimed but then yelped when she dodged a snow ball that was thrown at her by Yuffie when the ninja thought that she was distracted.

Yukiro grinned. "I never said that I was really on anyone's side..." he said as he tossed snowballs at Yuffie and Dena.

Dena laughed out loud as she fought with her friends, her hands numb from the cold of the snow; her cheeks were bright pink from the cold air, she had even started to breathe heavily. "Gotcha!" She shouted as one of her snow balls collided with Yuffie's face and yelped as she dodged one aimed at her direction by Yukiro.

Vincent meanwhile looked up from his book as he sat in the window seat of the lobby, brought out of his concentration by the splat of a snowball on the glass next to him. He sweatdropped and raised an eyebrow, he then stood and made his way towards the door.

(Vincent: ignores the snowballs splatting against his window...then finally looks over as he hears a louder 'splat' than usual and raises an eyebrow to see Yuffie sliding down the glass)

"Take this! And this! Hyyya!" Yuffie shouted as she flung snowballs around everywhere, not really seeming to care too much about aim anymore-just the general insanity and randomness of wherever the snowballs hit.

Dena ducked her head to dodge a random snowball thrown by Yuffie, she blinked when she heard the splat of the snowball hitting something; just out of curiosity she turned to see what the white mass had hit.

**Three guess to what the snowball hit…Please review…Thanks.**


End file.
